


Chaeyoung Has a Dog

by Rocofort



Series: I Make Myself Cry [1]
Category: LOONA (Korea Band), TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Its definitely gonna get sad, Jihyo knows all, Loona appears for like 1 chapter, Michaeng isn’t dead I am, Mom!Mina, Slow Burn, fancy era chaeyoung is gods gift to this earth, it might get sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:14:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 30,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24685927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rocofort/pseuds/Rocofort
Summary: Mina, a single mom, is getting tired of the routine of her life. She loves her daughter with all her heart, but Mina can’t help but feel something missing.Then a short, rambunctious woman who acts about the same age as her daughter moves into the apartment next door.
Relationships: Im Nayeon/Yoo Jeongyeon, Jeon Heejin/Kim Hyunjin, Kim Dahyun/Minatozaki Sana, Myoui Mina/Son Chaeyoung
Series: I Make Myself Cry [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2012173
Comments: 75
Kudos: 413





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am soft for mom mina idk why. I don’t really have a plan I just kinda write when i feel like it so im not sure how reliably this will be updated but we will see

Mina had grown reliant on her routine when she first had her daughter. It was really all that grounded her besides her beautiful daughter Yeojin. At least, it grounded her the first few months after she had Yeojin. The pregnancy went as smoothly as a pregnancy could go. She had the support of her boyfriend, all smiles and promises of a family together. Even though her family had cut her off when they found out their daughter was pregnant at 19, her boyfriend stayed with her during her pregnancy. She thought her relationship was the epitome of what love should look like, Mina felt like she could do anything with the support her boyfriend provided. That wasn’t to say that their relationship didn’t have problems, all relationships do. Yet, looking back, Mina feels like her younger self should have seen the red flags. Mina didn’t even want to think of his name, but she should have questioned the way he flinched when she would peek at his phone, the times he would seemingly drop off the face of the world for a day or two, not responding to texts only to return brightly smiling the next day. She should have noticed the way he deflected and avoided questions about his actions, always somehow turning the situation on her. 

It’s always easier to realize when it’s too late.

Mina felt like she woke up from the delightful dream she was living as soon as she held Yeojin in her arms for the first time.

Her best friend Jihyo had called her boyfriend, telling him Mina was in labor and to get to the hospital, but he never came. When Mina came home with her baby the next day, all of his things were gone, and it was like he simply erased himself from Mina’s life, just like that.

Mina woke up from the dream she was living when it was her best friend helping her through delivery instead of the father of her child.

Single motherhood was the biggest struggle of Mina’s life. She quickly realized she couldn’t work and attend college, without sacrificing taking good care of Yeojin, and Mina would be damned if she didn’t give her all in taking care of her daughter. As much as she wanted to continue studying dance to become a performer, she simply didn’t have enough time in the day to juggle all her responsibilities. So, she dropped out, deciding to work full time to make enough to get by. Mina would have to put her dreams on hold.

So, she fell into a routine. Every day, getting up and rushing Yeojin to her sitter, then heading to work. She was a secretary for an important executive at JYP Entertainment. It was probably the closest Mina would ever get to being a performer. But sometimes Mina couldn’t help but wonder if in another life she would have achieved her dreams, like the idols she caught glimpses of at her desk job.

Now, five years later, the same routine that got her through the early parts of motherhood felt like it was carving off a small piece of her soul every day. Slowly chipping away at her soul. She loves her daughter with all her heart, but Mina can’t help but feel something missing.

-

It started out as any other day. Mina woke up to her alarm blaring at 5:30. She slammed it off before turning her body to stretch in bed. She sat up slowly, not in a particular rush to get up. She stood up and headed to Yeojin’s room, peeking her head in to see Yeojin spread out like a starfish on her bed. Mina noticed her shiver, and all her blankets were scattered on the floor beside her bed.

‘She must have kicked them off in her sleep’ Mina thought as she picked them up and covered her daughter. Mina kissed her on her forehead and left to room. 

She headed down the hallway to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and combed through her hair quickly, deciding to put it up in a high ponytail. 

Mina headed to the kitchen and tried to think back to what Yeojin had asked her to make for breakfast the day before.

‘Probably ice cream or something.’ Mina chuckled to herself before pulling out pancake batter. Mina loved cooking but never had time to cook proper meals, so on rare mornings where she actually woke up at her alarm, she decided to cook something a little nicer to make up for the lack of ice cream and sprinkles. 

Mina hummed as she cooked, completely zoned out. It was really easy to get distracted while waiting for the pancake to cook on one side. She looked out the window at the already bustling city below. 

“BOO!” A shrill scream came from behind her and Mina jumped, letting out a quiet yelp. 

She turned to face the culprit giggling and running to her room. Mina took the pancake off the pan before running to Yeojin’s room. 

“Yeojin, I know you're in here.” Mina scanned the room and saw her feet peeking out from under her bed.

Mina prowled the room, “Come out, or I might have to tickle you.” Mina exclaimed, creeping closer to Yeojin’s hiding spot. 

Mina heard a giggle under the bed and pounced. 

“Found you.” Mina yelled, Yeojin tried to escape but was caught in Mina’s grip. 

She tugged Yeojin and started her barrage of tickles, Yeojin was laughing and kicking.

Eventually Mina relented and gave Yeojin a kiss on her nose. 

“You scared me good Jin, I think you have been spending too much time with Auntie Jeongyeon.” Yeojin let out another giggle.

“Auntie taught me to always wait for the perfect time to strike.”

Mina laughed and got up.

“Let’s go eat.” 

Yeojin scrambled up and ran to the kitchen. “Ice creaaaaaam.” She yelled as she ran out.

Mina followed, in a less rushed manner, down the hall of their two bedroom apartment to see Yeojin glaring at the plate of pancakes on the counter.

“Mooooooom, I wanted ice cream.” She pouted.

“But you love pancakes.” Mina objected, knowing arguing with a 5 year old was a huge waste of time.

“But I love ice cream more.”

Mina sighed and went to the fridge and grabbed some strawberries. Yeojin realized what she was doing and got excited.

“Yes! You're gonna make a face!” She jumped excitedly and rushed to sit at the table, kicking her legs back and forth in excitement.

Mina cut them and arranged them on the pancake into a smiley face.

“Here you go darling,” She gave it to Yeojin with a fork and left to go get ready for work.

After some deliberation, she settled on a black pencil skirt and a red button up blouse. Mina had slowly been acquiring more work attire over the years and now Mina had a lot of options, it made choosing an outfit hard sometimes. Really it depended on how much time she had to get to work, today was one of those nice mornings where she wasn’t in a hurry. She grabbed a pair of black heels and slid them on. 

She went to the bathroom and applied some light natural makeup. Mina stared at her reflection. She looked tired, even with the makeup, her eyes gave it all away. It wasn’t the ‘went to bed too late’ tired, more of a ‘I’m close to giving up’ tired. Another day, another chip away at her soul. Mina put on a brave face, ignoring her thoughts that echoed in her mind. Whenever she looked in the mirror, it was like a voice in her head woke up. A voice that spoke all the self doubt and all the fears Mina has ever and brought them to the forefront of her mind. Mina hated looking in the mirror.

After finishing applying her makeup, she left to get Yeojin ready for school. It was her first year of primary school and she was loving it. She brought drawings and finger paintings home and showed Mina them proudly. She loved to talk about her teacher and friends and whatever they were learning. Mina loved to hear Yeojin babble on about anything.

After getting her dressed in her uniform and making sure her backpack had everything she needed, they set out to catch the subway. Mina checked her watch as her and Yeojin walked down the street. They had about 15 minutes to catch the 7:20 train. They passed by a park Yeojin and Mina often went to. It was a big open area with a playground and lots of pathways with early morning joggers, some walking their dogs.

“Momma, can we go through the park, I like to walk on the trails.” She tugged her hand in the direction of the park, looking at her with pleading eyes.

“Yeojin, you can just say you want to see the dogs, and yes we have time.” 

Delighted, she dropped Mina’s hand and ran up the trail. Recently, Mina noticed Yeojin’s growing love of dogs. She always gushed about them whenever they saw some on the road, and talked about her friend Yoohyeon’s dog for days after coming home from a playdate with the girl. 

They walked through the park, Yeojin running up to anyone with a dog asking to pet it. Most people were more than happy to allow Yeojin to greet their dog. It didn’t seem to matter the breed or size. Yeojin approached them all the same.

One older woman was walking a cute golden retriever puppy. Yeojin squealed and ran to her.

“Excuse me, can I please pet your dog please.” Yeojin asked.

“Yes, of course, she is always excited to meet new people.” The woman replied.

Mina watched the beaming grin grow on her daughter's face as she scratched the puppies fur.

“Her name is Chi Chi, she loves tummy rubs.”

Chi Chi rolled on her back and Yeojin continued to pet her excitedly. Mina could tell the woman was patient and willing to let Yeojin have her fun, but they needed to get going.

“Come on honey, we have to go now.” Mina said. Yeojin would probably never leave if Mina didn’t tell her.

“Tell the woman thank you, okay.”

Yeojin nodded and flashed her a grin.

“Thank you, nice to meet you Chi Chi.” She exclaimed, giving her one last pat on the head.

“Let’s go sweety.” Mina called for her.

Yeojin frowned but listened, and they left the park.

Yeojin asked Mina if they could adopt a dog many times before, and it broke her heart every time she had to say no. Mina wanted to get Yeojin a dog, but financially they just couldn’t afford it at the moment. Mina didn’t need an extra mouth to feed, as well as her time pulled away in training it and walking it taking care of it. Maybe someday.

-

They got to the subway right as the train pulled in and boarded. Mina always felt weary taking the subway, especially with her daughter, but usually in the morning she wasn’t bothered. Mina had been catcalled and ogled at enough, she didn’t need her daughter to witness.

They arrived at Yeojin’s stop in about 15 minutes. The school was pretty close to the station, so they set out on the walk to her school. 

As they approached the building, Mina couldn’t help but get emotional as they approached the door.

No matter how many times she sent Yeojin off to school, it still felt like the first day. Mina just kept it in better. Seeing her baby growing up was a lot for Mina. She didn’t care about the judgemental stares she got from parents that Mina was so young and a mother. It was worse when it was her co-workers, who she had to see more often. Mina didn’t care at all, usually they didn’t approach her, but every once in a while, one parent was brave enough to comment.

Today was one of those days.

“Is that your daughter?” A voice behind her asked.

Mina looked away from her daughter and turned to see a woman and met her eyes. They were full of judgement.

“Yes, why?” Mina was already irritated at this woman, but she just kept a passive look on her face.

“Aren’t you a little young to have a daughter in school, how old are you?”

Mina wanted to roll her eyes, but she just took a deep, calming breath.

“Isn’t that an awfully rude question to ask someone? I am old enough to look after my daughter, you should mind your business.” Mina glared at the woman, who seemed unfazed at the clear anger in her tone.

The woman sent off her son and took a step forward. Even though they were relatively the same height, the woman seemed to tower over her.

“What a waste. I pity you. I pity your daughter even more.” The woman said, before turning on the sidewalk and walking to her parked car. Mina didn’t know what type of car it was, but she knew it was an expensive model.

Angrily, Mina simply turned and walked down the sidewalk back to the subway. Mina really didn’t want to let it ruin her day, but it was too late. She mulled over the woman’s words. 

She knew she wasn’t a perfect mother, and she couldn’t afford much other than the apartment they lived in, food, and the occasional shopping trips or treat for Yeojin. Mina struggled to provide for Yeojin sometimes, but Mina did her best. She was 24 with a highschool education and a daughter, she was doing just fine on her own, right?

-

Mina’s job wasn’t hard at all, she mostly answered phone calls and kept track of her boss’s schedule. She also got him coffee and ran whatever errand he asked her to do. 

The thing that made her job harder was the people. Not all, there were some lovely people she worked with, but some people simply found it impossible to mind their business.

When Mina first started working at JYP two years ago, people got one look at the picture of Yeojin on her desk, and had their minds made up about her. It was frustrating and exhausting to deal with the invasive questions and judgement.

Then there was Jun Seo, her boss Do Yun’s friend and partner. He visited often, and would always find time to flirt with Mina. He was so full of himself Mina found even a simple conversation with him tiring and disgusting. 

Mina sat at her desk right around 8:00. This was when her job technically started, but Do Yun never arrived until later in the day. He basically arrived whenever he felt, and sometimes he acted just as arrogant as Jun Seo. 

Mina settled into her chair and opened her computer. A part of her job was looking through her boss’s email and forwarding the ‘important’ ones to him. It took awhile for Mina to figure out what was important and what wasn’t but eventually she got it.

She went through her bosses inbox and answered the phone a few times. Usually the morning was uneventful.

“Morning Minari.” A cheerful voice came from in front of her desk.

Mina looked up to see Im Nayeon, an up and coming trainee under JYP. She spent a lot of time around the building because they were planning for her solo debut. Mina couldn’t help the small smile that creeped on her face at the sight of the girl. Im Nayeon was the type of person that Mina wishes she could be. Mina knew Nayeon would make it far in her career and was genuinely excited for the girl. She couldn’t help but compare herself to the gorgeous girl. Nayeon was enthusiastic and all smiles. She had a lot of charm and personality to her, while Mina was more reserved, quiet and frankly the opposite of outgoing. Mina felt lucky to be able to know Im Nayeon before she was going to become super famous.

“Good morning Nayeon, I know Do Yun scheduled you for 9:00 but he isn’t here yet, you know how he is.”

“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. But, that means we can chat before he comes.” Nayeon grinned so wide it made Mina want to smile too.

“So, how is Yeojin? Is she doing alright at school?”

“Yeah,” Mina grinned. She may be awkward but she could always talk about her daughter, Nayeon seemed to know it was a comfortable topic for Mina. “Lately she has been going on and on about dogs. She really wants a pet, every dog she sees she has to pet or she can’t sleep at night.” 

Nayeon chuckled, “She sounds cute.”

“She is very cute.” Mina agreed. They fell into a short silence before Nayeon broke it.

“Hey Mina, I was thinking, we should really spend some time together outside of work. Wanna do something together sometime?”

Mina suddenly got nervous. She wanted to say yes but it was hard for her to. It always made her nervous when plans were vague. Especially if they would be alone together, Mina didn’t want to be more awkward then normal. Plus she would have to find someone to watch Yeojin and-

“Minaaaaa, hello?”

Mina realised she zoned out and blushed nervously.

“Actually, my friend is coming over to my apartment tomorrow to watch a movie. You are welcome to tag along.” Mina said nervously. “That way you could meet my daughter too.” She didn’t know if sitting in and watching Disney movies with her daughter and Jeongyeon sounded like fun to Nayeon at all.

Nayeon grinned and nodded her head. 

“Sounds good!” Nayeon said. “Hey, do I have your phone number?” 

“Uh, I don’t think so… here.” Mina wrote it down on a scrap piece of paper and handed it to Nayeon. At that moment her boss decided to stroll in. 

“Nayeon, lovely to see you.” He flashed her a grin. “Please head into my office. Mina, coffee, you know how I like it.” Mina sighed and went to grab his coffee.

He couldn’t even say please.

-

The rest of the day went by fine. Mina answered the phone, replied to the large amount of emails her boss ‘didn’t have time for,’ and reminded him of meetings he had. Mina tended to skip her lunch period. She usually decided to save her money and never felt all that hungry anyway.

5:00 rolled around and Mina grabbed her things and was ready to head out. Jihyo picked up Yeojin from school most days so Mina could head straight home. She headed to her bosses office door, knocking quietly.

“Come in.”

“Sir, I’m going to head home for the day, have a nice evening.”

He just grunted in response, not bothering to look up from whatever he was doing.

Mina gently shut the door and left the building. 

The ride home was uneventful and Mina was just eager to get home. Mina climbed the stairs to her level of the apartment and was surprised to see the hallway near her door cluttered with boxes and furniture. Either someone was moving out, or maybe someone was finally moving into the vacant apartment next to Mina’s. She heard grunting and saw one of the couches move slightly. She saw a flash of blonde hair peek from behind the boxes. 

“Need help?” Mina asked. 

“Yes please, the movers kinda just dumped all my stuff here and left. I could really use the help.” 

Mina was taken aback at how gorgeous the woman was. She had full pink lips, wide brown doe eyes, and her hair was just amazing. She was a little shorter then Mina.

“Well, let’s get started… actually let me get us some more help.” 

Mina pulled out her keys to her apartment and opened the door. She stood in the doorway and yelled for Jihyo.

“Jihyo, will you please come out here and help me with something.” 

“Moooooom!” She heard a yell from somewhere inside before feet came thundering towards the door. Yeojin ran and Mina kneeled down to hug her. Jiyho followed shortly after.

“What did you need Mina?”

“Come out here. Yeojin I’m sure you can help too.”

Yeojin beamed at her mom and followed her out to the hall. There they saw the woman trying her best to lift a box off her couch, unfortunately not being able to lift it.

“We have to help our new neighbor move in okay?” 

Yeojin looked to see the woman's nervous grin. 

“You're gonna be our new neighbor? That's cool!” Yeojin got to work, pushing a smaller box towards the cracked open door of the apartment next door.

“I’m Jihyo. It’s nice to meet you.”

“I’m Son Chaeyoung. It's nice to meet you both. Thank you so much for the help.”

So they got started and lifted the couch first into the apartment. As they were lifting the couch through the hall. They heard Yeojin squeal from somewhere in Chaeyoung’s apartment. Mina, not noticing her daughter’s squeal of delight, looked closer at Chaeyoung she realized there was a hint of pink to her hair, which made her look even more beautiful.

“Puppy!” A yell came from Chaeyoung’s apartment. Snapping Mina out of her thoughts.

“Ah, she must have met my dog.” Chaeyoung said. They walked into the room hauling the couch to see Yeojin petting a smaller brown dog.

“That’s Luna, she’s an Australian kelpie. And she loves attention.” 

For the rest of the time, they hauled all of Chaeyoung’s stuff in while Yeojin played with the dog. 

Mina was really distracted the whole time at how incredibly good looking Chaeyoung was. Jihyo was constantly snapping her out of her daze, only for Mina to fall right back in it shortly after.

When they were finished they ended up in Mina’s apartment, all with their own bowls of ice cream. Yeojin, completely in love with Luna, was playing with the dog in her room.

“Thank you again for the help Mina and Jihyo, I would still be trying to get my couch in if it weren’t for you.” Mina smiled, she couldn’t help it. 

It was quiet and Mina didn’t know what to say so she focused on eating her ice cream.

“So… Yeojin is your guy’s daughter?” Chaeyoung asked. Jihyo laughed.

“No, she’s Mina’s daughter. We’re just friends.” Jiyho said with a chuckle.

“Ah that’s good.” Chaeyoung said. Mina wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean, but nodded anyway. “Sorry if this is rude, but do you have a boyfriend then or…” Chaeyoung asked, looking away from Mina’s gaze.

“No, her father is not involved.” Mina said. Usually Mina would be annoyed, but the way Chaeyoung looked at her so innocently fizzled out any possible anger.

“How old are you Chaeyoung?” Jihyo asked, changing the subject.

“I’m 22, how about you guys?”

“I’m 25.” Jihyo replied.

“I’m 24.” Mina said, waiting for the judgment to come. 

But none came.

They talked for a few more minutes and eventually everyone finished their ice cream.

“Well I have a ton of unpacking to do so I should get going.” Chaeyoung said, stretching her arms out over her head, exposing her toned midriff. If Mina wasn’t drooling before she definitely was now. She wanted to insist for Chaeyoung to stay, but was too shy to say anything. Instead she nodded and walked her to the door. 

“Yeojin, bring Luna please.” Mina yelled.

Yeojin ran in with Luna hot on her tail.

Chaeyoung picked the dog up and kissed her head.

“Hey, wanna know something I learned today?” Chaeyoung asked. 

“Sure.” Mina scrunched her eyebrows in confusion.

“Women named Mina have the prettiest smiles.” Chaeyoung gave her a smile and was out the door.

Mina stood there, dumbfounded, until Jihyo cleared her throat.

Jiyho gave Mina a knowing look, “The prettiest smile huh.” Mina turned to her and tried to glare, but she was blushing such a deep shade of red it wasn’t as scary as Mina intended. 

“She was really nice, I liked her and Luna.” Yeojin said, startling Mina and Jihyo. “Mom, will we get to play with her more? Please I want to see Luna again.” Yeojin begged tugging at the waistband of her shirt.

“I don’t know Yeojin I-”

“But she is so nice and pretty and Luna is the best dog ever. She can even sit when I say.”

“We’ll see Jin.” Yeojin knew this was her mom’s way of basically saying no, so she pouted even more. 

“Mom can you get us a dog?”

“Sweety, I would love to, but pets are expensive and a lot of work. We have talked about this already.”

Yeojin frowned and ran to her room. Mina sighed and looked at her best friend, who was staring back with an eyebrow arched. It was like she knew the exact thoughts going through Mina’s head. No matter how many times Mina received that stare from her best friend, she couldn’t help but squirm under her gaze. She didn’t earn the nickname ‘God Jihyo’ in highschool for nothing, after all.

“Why don’t you let Yeojin see Luna, you know how she is about stuff like this.” Jihyo asked. Mina had a feeling she already knew the answer but was asking to see if Mina would admit it out loud. 

Mina didn’t.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank everyone for the nice comments and kudos! It is super encouraging for me. It really feels like my writing has improved and I’m really pushing myself to write longer chapters (i know 3k words rly isn’t that much but it is for me) also sorry for any errors i always miss a bunch of them
> 
> Anyway enjoy :)

Saturday was Mina’s favorite day of the week. It was the day for Mina to slow down from the business of the week. Her friend from high school, Jeongyeon, also made a habit of coming over to spend time with Mina and Yeojin. The gesture was appreciated it a lot. Sometimes Jihyo would tag along as well, but usually she worked late shifts on Friday and would rather get the extra sleep. Mina understood. She honestly didn’t know what she would do if the three of them weren’t able to stay close after high school. She lost touch with a lot of people over the years, but they were two constants in her life. 

Jeongyeon, consistent as ever, showed up at her apartment around 9:00. She knew Mina hated getting up if she didn’t have work, so Jeongyeon would purposely come early to bother Mina. And Yeojin, who loved her aunt, let her in to plan the best way to wake Mina up. 

Sometimes it was a blessing when they woke her up, because they would wake her up from nightmares. Sometimes they were dreams of her losing Yeojin, sometimes she dreams about Jihyo leaving her behind, whatever she dreamt of it usually wasn’t pretty. She usually dreams about faces of her past, as if her mind always had those faces of the people who have hurt her swirling around it. Her mom, her ex, her English teacher from high school. They would all stare at her, crowds of them, sometimes laughing, sometimes jeering. No matter how many times she would have the same dream, it never got easier seeing those faces from her past, even if she eventually would wake up from it. 

Asleep or awake, Mina’s mind haunted itself.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had a pleasant dream.

Mina was sleeping, not realizing the plotting going on in the living room just outside. Jeongyeon and Yeojin crept slowly into Mina’s bedroom. With a loud yell, Yeojin and Jeongyeon both jumped on Mina’s bed, throwing as much of their weight on Mina as possible. Mina yelped and shot awake, and she slid off her bed with a thud.

“Morning sunshine! Good to see you.” Jeongyeon said with a cheery smile, offering her hand to help Mina up. 

Mina glared at the older girl and let out a huff, which made the other girl laugh. She still accepted her hand. 

“Mom can we go to the park with Auntie Jeongyeon today?” Yeojin asked.

“Sure why not, just let me get out of my pajamas, you two can go play while you wait for me, and no more pranks. Got it?” Mina pointed at Jeongyeon, squinting her eyes into a glare.

Jeongyeon just put both her hands up and feigned an innocent expression. They both got out of her room and waited. Mina quickly got dressed and exited, grabbing her keys and wallet on the way out.

“Okay, lets go.” 

While they got out of their apartment, as if the universe decided Mina hadn’t been embarrassed enough after yesterday, Chaeyoung exited her apartment with Luna on a leash. 

“Luna!” Yeojin screeched, running to the dog who ran to meet her, tail wagging.

“Oh, hi Yeojin, morning Mina.” Chaeyoung said cheerfully, a warm smile spreading on her face.

“Good morning Chaeyoung. Were you going to go on a walk?” Mina asked. 

“Oh yeah, I don’t have much to do today, so I decided to take Luna out to explore the new neighborhood.” Chaeyoung replied.

“Hey, we are going on a walk to the park. Can you come with us? Pleaase.” Yeojin begged.

“If it’s okay with your mom, I’d love too.” Chaeyoung answered, fidgeting with Luna’s leash.

Yeojin turned to her giving the widest puppy eyes, and as nervous as she was to go on a walk with her neighbor, Jeongyeon would be with so it wouldn’t be too awkward. Speaking of Jeongyeon…

“I would love it if you came, and this is Jeongyeon.” She gestured to the girl as Jeongyeon exited the apartment. “Jeongyeon, this our neighbor Chaeyoung, she just moved in yesterday.”

Jeongyeon brightly smiled at her and waved. “Nice to meet you Chaeyoung.”

“You too.” Chaeyoung replied with any equally bright smile.

“Well let's get going then.” Mina said. Jeongyeon offered Mina her elbow, which she graciously accepted, linking their arms together. Chaeyoung followed close behind with Yeojin sticking to her like glue.

As they walked, Mina didn’t notice the jealous look in Chaeyoung’s eyes.

-

They arrived at the park and Chaeyoung took off Luna’s leash, letting her run free with Yeojin on her tail.

The three women sat on a nearby bench, and while Jeongyeon struck up a conversation with Chaeyoung, Mina felt too nervous to say anything, so she just listened.

“So Chaeyoung, you just moved here right? Where did you move from?” 

“Well, the dorm I lived at didn’t allow pets, but I kinda maybe snuck Luna in anyway. She was a stray I found and we instantly bonded. My roommate didn’t care so everything was fine at first.” Chaeyoung rubbed the back of her neck. “Then I got caught a few weeks back and I had to either get rid of Luna or move out, and I just couldn’t get rid of her.”

Mina nodded understandably. She was a beautiful dog with a playful and loving personality. Mina watched Yeojin and the dog playing tug of war with a stick. Yeojin was having a great time.

Suddenly her phone buzzed, and Mina stopped listening to Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung’s conversation about some comic series to look at her phone.

Unknown: Hey Mina! It's Nayeon, I was wondering when you wanted me to come over today ;)

Mina chuckled at how the girl texted, it seemed so very Nayeon.

“Hey Jeongyeon, I forgot to mention earlier, but I invited a friend from work to watch the movie with us later.” Mina said.

“Wait a minute, you have friends outside of me and Jihyo?” Jeongyeon joked. Mina slapped her arm.

“Ugh, why can’t you just, ‘oh that’s great, the more the merrier’ or something.” Mina groaned.

“Fine, fine. Is she hot?” 

“Yes, very… hey! Come on, that's not important.” Mina slapped her again for good measure. Mina looked to see Chaeyoung staring off in the distance. She probably felt awkward, and in that moment, Mina felt a bit of courage.

“Chaeyoung, if you would like, Yeojin, Jeongyeon, Nayeon and I are gonna just go back to my apartment and watch movies. If you’d like to, you’re invited.”

“Sure, yeah, sounds fun.”

She sent her a quick text telling her apartment address and what time to come.

They sat and watched Yeojin play, and Mina realized just how happy she was. Mina didn’t know if it was good how attached Yeojin was getting, but one look at her smile and Mina’s worries were out the window.

“So, what do you do for a living Chaeyoung?” Mina asked, finding unknown courage from somewhere inside herself.

“Well I’m a student, but I also work at a grocery store right now as well.”

“Oh what are you studying?” Jeongyeon asked.

“I’m taking fine arts classes.”

“Ah an artist, very cool.” Jeongyeon said.

Mina didn’t realize her mind wandered as she listened to Jeongyeon speak about something related to her career as a producer. Chaeyoung was wearing a really cute pair of denim shorts and-

Jeongyeon elbowed her in the side.

“Hey! What was that for?” Mina yelled. 

“Because you’re practically undressing Chaeyoung and I’m sitting right here in between you two.” Jeongyeon muttered in a low tone.

Mina huffed and shook her head. “I was not.”

-

They stayed at the park for another hour or so before deciding to walk back to the apartment. Nayeon would be coming soon, and Mina did not want to keep the girl waiting.

Mina’s apartment always felt… bare.

She just didn’t have a lot of stuff worth decorating with, or maybe it was just she didn’t have time to decorate. Most of the walls were bare, and beside basic furniture, and some art that was hung up that Yeojin brought home, the apartment looked barely lived in. 

Mina usually wasn’t conscious about it with Jeongyeon or Jihyo, but when two new people were visiting. Even though Chaeyoung had technically already been, she just went into the kitchen which was directly next to the door. Mina didn’t really know why she felt so embarrassed about it, but Mina wasn’t sure about a lot of things. She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to impress Chaeyoung, or why she started getting nervous when she plopped down on the couch next to Mina. Jeongyeon sat on the other side, subtly shoving Chaeyoung into Mina for space. Mina was surprised at how comfortable her friend was with her new neighbor, but then again, Jeongyeon had always been good at making fast friends.

Yeojin jumped up to sit next to Jeongyeon, and Mina was about to start the movie, Avengers Age of Ultron, when she heard a knock on the door. 

“Oh, that must be Nayeon, I’ll be right back.” 

Mina went to answer the door, and was met with Nayeon, smiling brightly. 

“Hi Nayeon, please come in.” Mina opened the door all the way and stepped to the side, inviting the older girl in. 

Mina shut the door and guided Nayeon to the couch where everyone was seated. 

Chaeyoung was staring intently at the screen, Yeojin wasn’t paying them any attention while fiddling with a bracelet on her wrist, and Jeongyeon, well she looked ready to pass out. She practically picked Yeojin up and dropped her on Chaeyoung to make room for Nayeon next to her. Chaeyoung looked a little awkward and uncomfortable with Yeojin now on her lap, like she was some bomb ready to go off. Yeojin, oblivious to Chaeyoung’s discomfort, started explaining why Iron Man should have beat Captain America in Captain America Civil War. The whole scene was too funny and Mina let out a chuckle. 

“Everyone, this is Nayeon. Nayeon this is Jeongyeon, my neighbor Chaeyoung, and my daughter Yeojin.”

“Aww, Yeojin you are just too cute!” Nayeon squealed.

Deciding Chaeyoung had suffered enough she picked Yeojin up and took her seat next to Chaeyoung. Nayeon sat next to Jeongyeon. Chaeyoung looked at her gratefully.

Jeongyeon looked all too pleased. Mina really wanted to tell her stupid friend she wasn’t always as smooth as she though, but Mina decided to just let it play out and see what happens. 

Mina started the movie, and Yeojin and Chaeyoung were both invested in the movie, while Mina was distracted by whispers coming from Jeongyeon and Nayeon.

“Auntie, shush, I’m trying to watch the movie!” Yeojin said. Jeongyeon laughed and Yeojin pouted. Mina didn’t know what it was, but Yeojin was extremely attached to Marvel movies and tended to get angry when someone ‘disrespected’ the movie experience.

The whispering continued shortly after, and Mina didn’t even want to think about the sad pick up lines Jeongyeon was probably using. She turned her head to get a better look at what they were up to, only to catch Chaeyoung turning away quickly.

“Hey Chaeyoung, can you hear what Jeongyeon and Nayeon are whispering about?” Mina leaned over to whisper in her ear. 

Cheryoung jumped and turned to look at Mina, who was centimeters away.

“Something about cargo shorts I think?” Chaeyoung whispered.

“Oh no…” Mina sighed. She knew exactly what was going on. Jeongyeon had used the same awful pickup line on her when they first met in highschool. It was really bad back then, and still bad now.

High School was a rough time, especially when Jeongyeon used to hit on her, Mina gagged just thinking about it. It wasn’t that Jeongyeon wouldn’t be a great girlfriend, she was just embarrassed. Seeing what close friends they had become, all that pining would stay in their teenage years. For good.

Mina checked to see Nayeon’s reaction to Jeongyeon’s cheesy pick up lines, and she was covering her mouth with her hands to try to stop from laughing out loud. She couldn't lie, they would honestly be cute together. Mina didn’t know if she should be unsurprised or surprised by their chemistry.

“Wait, so do you have something against cargo shorts or…” Chaeyoung asked.

Mina looked at her and laughed.

Yeojin shushed her with a huff.

“No,” Mina whispered, “Jeongyeon is using an awful pickup line she used on me once and I just hate to see her embarrass herself all the time.”

Chaeyoung giggled and both of them turned their heads to see Nayeon whispering something in Jeongyeon’s ear, with Jeongyeon getting redder by the minute. Nayeon pulled away, smirking, and turned to pay attention to the movie. Jeongyeon turned when she heard Chaeyoung and Mina laugh and tried to play it off. 

Mina was about to start teasing the poor girl when Yeojin interrupted.

“Hey, hush, my favorite part is coming up.” She whined, promptly shutting everyone up to focus on the movie. 

As the movie went on, Mina could feel the unresolved tension growing in the room. Something was just putting her on edge. She took a quick glance at everyone’s face to see Chaeyoung watching Jeongyeon and Nayeon with an unreadable expression on her face. The two girls were oblivious to the girl watching them, and Mina was curious as to what was going on in the girls head.

The movie finished, and Yeojin shot up as soon as the credits started rolling by. 

“Mom I’m hungry. Can we eat something?” She asked, walking up to her and grabbing her hand.

“Of course, are you guys hungry? Do you guys want to go out to eat?” Mina asked the others. 

They all nodded, Chaeyoung nodding her head the quickest.

“Yes, I’m starving.” She whined, in a tone similar to Yeojin’s. It made Mina smile at how childlike her neighbor could act sometimes. It was cute, there was a natural wonder and excitement that came with almost everything Chaeyoung did. 

“We should go to Tofu Palace, they have everything you could ever want.” Jeongyeon said, “and I want to see Sana and Dahyun, it’s been a while since we have seen them. I think you both will like them a lot” 

Mina always cringed at the name of the restaurant. Sana and Dahyun owned the restaurant, which Dahyun allowed Sana to name for some reason unknown to Mina. Her mind started racing, and Mina became nervous to bring Chaeyoung to meet them, Sana especially. It’s not that she thought they wouldn’t get along, it was just, Sana could be a lot. She knew for a fact Sana would tease her, and Mina had grown to be unbothered by the teasing over time, but for some reason she desperately did not want to be teased about Chaeyoung. She was sure that Jihyo had told them about Chaeyoung’s flirting because anything that has to do with Mina’s nonexistent love life is a hot topic in their friend group, much to Mina’s dismay.

“Sounds good to me.” Nayeon said with a shrug.

Mina was about to protest when Yeojin jumped and shouted, “ Yes! I love Auntie Sana. Mommie we can go right?”

Mina sighed at Yeojin’s pleading eyes and just nodded. Curse her crumbling resolve.

What was Mina getting herself into?

-

They all piled into Jeongyeon’s car and headed to the Tofu Palace. Mina sat in the passenger seat next to Jeongyeon who was driving, with the last three in the back seat.

While everyone else was getting more excited the closer they got, Mina was getting considerably more nervous as they passed the familiar buildings and roads to the restaurant. For some reason, all she wanted was for Chaeyoung to like her, and Mina knew how certain social cues tend to fly over Sana’s head. What if Chaeyoung got uncomfortable? Sana tended to have no filter, and if she prodded at her asking if she had a crush or something stupid, would Chaeyoung get weirded out? What if-

Mina was snapped out of digging her own grave when Jeongyeon grabbed her hand, which was squeezed into a fist so tight her knuckles turned white. Mina hadn’t even noticed. 

The other three in the backseat were talking and didn’t notice what was going on in the front, at least, Mina assumed they didn’t see. She was kind of distracted at the moment.

Jeongyeon gave her a concerned look, and Mina turned her head to look out the window, but kept their hands intertwined. Mina just needed the physical support. Talking about whatever was going on in her head in a car with two, Mina didn’t even know if they were friends, and her daughter didn’t sound appealing. 

One thing she appreciated about Jeongyeon was her ability to pick up on Mina’s mood without her having to say much, and she always knew when to just leave it at that. She knew when to snap her out of her thoughts and was always a supporting friend. They never talked much about it, but they never really had to. 

Mina didn’t even notice they arrived until the car stopped. She took a deep breath and exited the car. Yeojin skipped ahead to the entrance, with the four of them following close behind. Mina still didn’t know why she was so nervous. For some reason she was painting Sana out to be some sort of villain, when the girl was nothing but sweet and kind to Mina. She had no idea what was going on, or maybe she did, but just couldn’t admit it to herself. 

Why did she have to make something as simple as going out to eat so complicated?

They entered and were seated at a booth by a window. Jeongyeon and Nayeon rushed to sit next to eachother on one side, and Mina could have sworn she saw a smirk on both of their faces as Mina sat down next to Chaeyoung, with Yeojin sitting on the end. Sandwiched between her hot neighbor and daughter, there was no escaping this. 

So far, there was no sign of either of the owners, but Mina knew they were always around on the weekends. Pushing it to the back of her mind, she decided to just browse the menu instead, even though she already knew what she was going to order.

Jeongyeon and Nayeon were talking in hushed tones again like they were during the movie, so Mina just decided to ignore them. Introducing the two of them to each other was looking more and more like a mistake. 

A waitress came and took their order, and while they waited for their food, Yeojin started talking to Chaeyoung animatedly about some TV show they both watch. Mina could tell at first Chaeyoung was nervous around kids, but as they talked about topics Chaeyoung was interested in, she got more into the conversation. Watching her talk with passion about Dragon Ball Z was captivating. She was in her element arguing with a five year old about some fictional show.

“But the fight with Frieza lasted, like, almost 20 episodes!” Yeojin exclaimed.

“I know, it was an epic fight, but just because it was long doesn’t mean it was the best fight in the show.” Chaeyoung argued back. Watching Chaeyoung argue with her daughter was funny, sometimes Mina couldn't tell who acted older. It made her smile that Chaeyoung got along with her daughter. Something that also prevented her from getting back into the dating world was her daughter, she was afraid that if they didn’t leave because of Mina, they would leave because of her daughter. 

“Mina, what do you think?” Chaeyoung asked. Both of them looked at her with pleading eyes, begging her to side with them. Cute. 

“I really don’t know much about what you're talking about.” Mina said, not picking sides.

“Mooooom were you not paying attention when we watched Dragon Ball Z together?” Yeojin complained.

“Sorry honey, I think you guys will have to settle this without me.” Chaeyoung beamed at her and they swiftly fell back into their lighthearted argument. 

A feeling settled at the bottom of Mina’s stomach. All she ever thought she really needed was Yeojin, and everything else would work itself out. But with Chaeyoung, she felt light. One smile from the girl made the weight on her shoulders bearable.

It really felt like everything would be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some reason the notes on my first chapter show up on this one. idk why but you can just ignore it i have no idea how to fix it soooo... also this chapter was really hard for me to write for some reason and im not 100% happy with it but i hope at least some of you could enjoy it, i have no idea when another update will come, but hopefully soon


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who transcended the depths of hell to bring a third chapter. Me! 
> 
> Somehow I put this together I really hope it was worth almost 2 months. Enjoy it, and also any feedback is really appreciated, I’m really trying to improve where i can :)
> 
> Also wtf 95 kudos?? Where did you all come from? I’m so happy to see that this is being enjoyed :)
> 
> Also I like skimmed through this to proofread so there definitely will be mistakes. Sorry in advance

Chaeyoung has always lived a carefree life. She knew how lucky she was. Not everyone got two loving, supportive, encouraging parents like she did. Chaeyoung wasn’t afraid to try new things or take risks, because she knew her parents would always dig her out of whatever hole she buried herself in. Being independent from them was hard, but Chaeyoung felt like she was really starting to make progress. She skipped a few years after highschool to save for university. Her family wasn’t super well off, so every penny she made helped. Finally starting her first year of university and moving was a was a big leap. Knowing her parents were proud sometimes made all the difference.

She started as a business major, minoring in data analytics. Not really knowing what she wanted to do, doing what her parents suggested was what she went with. After one semester it was easy to realize Chaeyoung needed to change her major. She switched to a fine arts major the next semester. Chaeyoung was prepared for her parents to be extremely upset, but they were very supportive of her choice. Her classes were interesting, and it felt like everything was starting to fall in place.

One thing she was nervous about was meeting new people and making friends. She left her home in a small town to move to the city and knew absolutely no one. She was especially nervous about her roommate. What if they didn’t like her? What if they were messy and rude? Luckily, her roommate was none of those things. Her name was Momo, a girl from Japan, and it turned out she was just as nervous as Chaeyoung. Momo had some… interesting quirks to say the least, but was a great roommate. Everything was getting stable, Chaeyoung was enjoying her classes, working on her writing, finally getting into digital art after wanting to for a long time, and making friends in her classes.

Then she found a stray puppy in the alley while taking out the trash at work. Her heart broke at the sight of its patchy, dirty fur and it’s trembling, starved body.

Chaeyoung couldn’t leave, or it would haunt her for the rest of her life. So she grabbed one of the boxes she was supposed to be throwing out and carefully put the puppy in it, leaving it in the alley until she got off work. After her shift, she ran out and bundled up the puppy in her sweatshirt. She snuck it in on her bus and took it home. Taking a closer look at it, Chaeyoung realised it was a girl, and she probably needed to go to the veterinarian. She looked malnourished and possibly sick.

Momo was excited to see the puppy when Chaeyoung got home. She was excited to have the puppy around and helped take her to the vet.

Months went by and Chaeyoung mastered sneaking Luna around the dorm building. Until someone saw her and decided to report her. Chaeyoung still wondered why people couldn’t mind their own business.

Everything after that felt blurry.

Two weeks later she was moving into her new apartment, and met her new neighbors, who invited her to spend the day with them. They have known each other for only a few days, and Chaeyoung already felt like Mina and Yeojin were a part of her life.

-

Mina. The girl was on Chaeyoung’s mind all night last night. Getting distracted from Yeojin talking about the perfect french fry to ranch ratio, Chaeyoung’s eyes wandered to the older girl.

She has spent enough time with the blonde to realize she doesn’t talk much, or at least is very soft spoken.

When she came and offered to help her move in, Chaeyoung was instantly attracted to her. At first, it was in a physical sense, because she is goddess tier gorgeous. But seeing her personality, past her looks, is what really made Chaeyoung fall for her.

The way she smiles at her daughter is probably the most incredible thing Chaeyoung’s eyes have been blessed with.

A kick under the table connecting with Chaeyoung’s leg snapped her out of her thoughts. There wasn’t any force behind it, but it certainly got her attention.

Jeongyeon and Nayeon were looking at Chaeyoung, and their expressions were hard to read. Mina was busy wiping ranch off of Yeojin’s face, and didn’t notice the stare down happening right next to her.

Chaeyoung was starting to get uncomfortable under Jeongyeon’s gaze. It felt like she was analyzing every mistake she had ever made in her whole life. Chaeyoung shifted in her seat, about to look away when she heard a yell.

“JinJin!” Chaeyoung turned to see two women heading over to their booth. One with bright orange hair, the other with dark blue hair.

Yeojin squealed and jumped out of her seat, interrupting Mina from wiping the ranch that somehow got on her shirt as well.

“Sanaaaa!” The girl yelled as she barreled towards her and leaped into a hug.

The woman, Sana apparently, picked up Yeojin and walked right up to the booth, the blue haired woman right next her to her.

“Mina, it’s about time you came back here, Jeongyeon it’s great to see you too.” Sana said, sending a wink Mina’s way. She sat down in Yeojin’s seat, with the five year old on her lap. Nayeon and Jeongyeon scooted over to make room for the other girl.

“Chaeyoung, Nayeon, this is Sana and Dahyun.”

“Hey Sana, guess what? Chaeyoung watches Dragonball Z too! Also we have to watch it again with mommy because she forgot everything.” Yeojin told her while pouting, making Sana giggle.

“Mina! Come on, was watching 291 episodes the first time not enough for you? Don’t even get me started on Dragonball and Dragonball Super. Yeojin, you make sure you convince your mom to come over so we can have a marathon and rewatch it. Make that multiple marathons.”

Mina rolled her eyes and Sana just laughed and pulled her into a hug, kissing her forehead.

Chaeyoung turned away. Trying to figure out if Mina was single was getting harder. Every time she introduced new people to the group, she got more and more confused. At first she thought her and Jihyo were a couple. Now she was almost certain her and Jeongyeon were together. Now Sana. Why did Mina have to have such attractive ‘friends.’ Chaeyoung didn’t think she could compete. When Chaeyoung flirted with her that first night, she was more confident that Mina was single, but now she felt unsure of herself.

“So, Nayeon and Chaeyoung. It’s nice to meet you both.” Dahyun said. “How do you know Mina?”

“We work together.” Nayeon said, “I’m a trainee at JYPE.”

“That’s awesome! Must be hard work though.” Dahyun replied. Dahyun and Nayeon continued talking about the industry and Chaeyoung started zoning out again. Sneaking a glance at Mina, she saw Sana wrapping her hands around the girl trying to pull her in for a kiss, while Mina was trying to avoid her attempts.

“Come on Mina, just give in to the inevitable.” Mina let out shriek as Sana peppered her cheek with kisses.

It was disgustingly cute and Chaeyoung couldn’t help but smile, even if it was a little bit forced.

“So Chaeyoung, tell us about yourself.” Sana said, finally relenting from her attack on Mina.

“I’m an art student, and I work part time at a grocery store.”

“Oh, and how do you know Mina, she has never mentioned you before.” Sana asked, almost too innocently.

“I moved in next to her apartment a few days ago, and Mina has been helping me a lot.” Chaeyoung felt embarrassed with all eyes suddenly on her, and she could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks.

“Aww you're just so cute.” Sana gushed, making her even redder.

“Sana don’t tease her.” Mina scolded.

Sana jutted out her lower lip in a pout.

“Come on, don’t look at me like that.” Mina said, crossing her arms.

“But Minaaaa, we were just having fun. And Chaeyoung is just adorable, can you blame me?”

Mina sighed, “You’re impossible.”

“Give me a kiss to feel better?” Sana asked, pouting even more.

“No.” Mina rejected firmly.

Sana pulled at her arm, “But Minaaaa”

Mina sighed and gave her a light peck on the cheek. Everyone on the other side of the booth squealed.

Chaeyoung deflated. There was no way Mina was single. Her and Sana looked really good together. She was just so frustratingly kind and thoughtful and beautiful. There was absolutely no way she was being delusional when her and Sana were that cute.

They chatted for a bit and as their lunch went on it became quite apparent that Sana and Dayhun were either highly caffeinated or just super hyper, because they had a lot of energy, and they were a lot of fun as well.

-

“We better get going now.” Mina said, glancing at her phone.

“Aw, can Sana and aunt Dahyun come with us?” Yeojin asked.

“No honey, they are working.” Mina answered.

“We can visit later, don’t worry JinJin.” Sana said, poking her nose.

They got their bill and Jeongyeon basically fought Mina to the death to pay it. Chaeyoung wishes she was joking, but the way they were whisper-yelling and glaring convinced her someone was probably gonna die if they stepped too close to either girl. Somehow, Jeongyeon won and Mina backed down. Nayeon and Chaeyoung came to a silent agreement when their eyes met and decided it was best for their health to stay out of it.

On the way out, Sana pulled Mina aside and they talked while the rest of the group headed out to Jeongyeon’s car. Mina came out of the restaurant a few minutes after. She couldn’t help but look back at the blonde as she was being pulled into an affectionate hug from Sana. Chaeyoung definitely wasn’t jealous.

In the car, it was pretty quiet until Nayeon started talking about some video game, and surprisingly Mina butted in and they started chatting about it.

“No, the pillagers only raid if you kill the bannermen and have the bad omen effect on you.” Mina said.

“But how come random pillagers just show up at my village then?” Nayeon asked.

Chaeyoung didn’t really know what they were talking about, but listened anyway.

“Those are just pillagers that wander looking for villages. You know it’s an actual raid when there is a boss bar, and a lot of pillagers.” Mina said.

“I guess that makes sense. Still there is only, like two villagers left in my village. They all died.” Nayeon frowned.

“So you play video games Mina?” Chaeyoung asked.

“Oh, yeah! I don’t have much time nowadays but I try to play with Yeojin whenever I can.” Mina answered, smiling shyly.

“Yeah mommy is so good at anything she plays.” Yeojin butted in.

Chaeyoung smiled to herself, “Well, you will have to teach me sometime.”

“Sure, that would be fun.” Mina said.

“Yeah we could start a world and build a house and get lots of dogs and some cats and you could bring Luna over to play and we could have lots of cows. You have to Chaeyoung ssi, please.” Yeojin begged.

“Well I’m free, ask your mom, maybe we can play when we get back.”

Mina smiled and nodded, and Chaeyoung wanted to do a little happy dance.

They arrived back at the apartment, and Mina invited Nayeon and Jeongyeon to come with them. Jeongyeon said she had ‘other matters to attend to’ and drove away with Nayeon after promptly dropping them off.

“So, how long have they known each other again?” Chaeyoung asked.

“About four hours, give or take.” Mina replied, checking her phone clock.

“Huh, well that’s… something.” Chaeyoung said, and Mina let out a laugh.

They walked up the stairs and Chaeyoung was starting to get a little nervous. This was the first time they were going to be alone. Well, alone with Yeojin, but still, alone.

“I’ll go get Luna and meet you inside, just give me one minute.” Mina nodded and Yeojin ran up to Mina and tugged on her hand.

“Can I go with her mama? Pleeease.” Yeojin whined.

Chaeyoung could tell Mina was debating in her head, but eventually she nodded her head slowly.

“If it’s alright with Chaeyoung, go ahead.”

Chaeyoung nodded and Yeojin squealed and ran to Chaeyoung’s door.

“I’ll leave it open for you two.” Mina said, pulling out her keys, unlocking her door and disappearing inside.

Chaeyoung fished out her own keys and opened the door. Her and Yeojin went inside. Usually, Chaeyoung was nervous around kids. Unsure of how to talk to them, she usually felt awkward and second guessed herself. But with Yeojin, it was pretty easy. Surprisingly they had a lot in common, and it was easy to talk to the five year old.

Yeojin ran in ahead of her, and Luna’s paws could be heard running towards them from the hallway. Instead of greeting her owner like usual, Luna ran straight to Yeojin and jumped up on her.

“Wow she really has warmed up to you Yeojin.” Chaeyoung said, slightly jealous.

“She is such a cutie.” Yeojin said, petting her neck and head.

Luna let the younger girl pet her for a little, until she decided to finally greet her owner and walked to her. Chaeyoung bent down and picked her up, giving her a quick kiss on the head as she did.

“Well, lets get going then, we don’t want to keep your mom waiting.”

“I like your pink hair. You're really pretty Chaeyoung ssi.” Yeojin said.

Chaeyoung looked up from locking her apartment door to see Yeojin looking up at her, grinning.

“Thanks kid, I think you’re gonna grow up to be a beautiful woman one day.”

They entered Mina’s apartment to see her in the living room, turning on the xbox.

“Come on, and grab a remote.” Mina gestured to the couch.

“So, what are we playing again?” Chaeyoung asked, sitting next to Mina. Yeojin sat on the carpet in front of them. Luna laid her head on Yeojin’s knee and fell asleep soon after.

“It’s called Minecraft. It’s a multiplayer survival game. You can build and craft and explore. It’s a lot of fun.”

“Well I’ve definitely heard of it before. I’ve never played though.”

“Don’t worry, we will teach you how to play.” Mina said with a small smile.

“We have to build a castle and get as many dogs as possible.” Yeojin said.

“Sounds good to me.” Chaeyoung said.

The world loaded, and to say Chaeyoung was confused at first is an understatement.

“What do you mean you just punch the tree? How is it even floating like that?” Chaeyoung asked.

“It’s more fun if you don’t question the physics.” Mina laughed.

Progress was slow, but after a bit, Chaeyoung didn’t have to look down at the buttons to figure out what to press.

“Hey Mina, what's this green cactus looking thing?” Chaeyoung asked, moving her character towards it to get a better look.

“No! Don’t walk towards it, it will blow up!” Yeojin yelled.

“Um, I think it’s too late.” The death message showed up at the bottom of the screen, Guest 1, unfortunately, was blown up by a creeper.

“Hah now you have to start all over.” Yeojin laughed.

Mina just giggled. “Chaeyoung, that’s called a creeper, they blow up if you get too close.”

“Oh, so I have to do everything all over again?” Chaeyoung pouted.

“No, if you find where you died, you can pick up all your stuff. You died kinda near me and Yeojin, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

After messing around a bit more they found a nice spot and got to work building a house. Chaeyoung was probably the least helpful, but Mina was smiling and having fun. That was all that really mattered, and Chaeyoung enjoyed just messing around and spending time with these two amazing girls.

Yeojin eventually found and tamed her dogs, and things were looking pretty good.

“Hey Chae, what time is it?” Mina asked, not looking away from the screen.

Pushing past her initial shock at the nickname, she checked the clock on the microwave.

“It’s almost 6. Wow, we have been playing for a while.”

“Yeah.” Mina looked away from the TV screen and met Chaeyoung’s eyes.

It was hard to not be conscious of the little space between them on the large couch. Chaeyoung could feel an invisible tug, trying to pull her closer to the blonde. As much as Chaeyoung wanted to, she didn’t want to invade anyone’s space unwelcome. But, Chaeyoung was getting sucked in by Mina’s eyes, she could stare at them forever. There was a lot being expressed by her eyes, and Chaeyoung felt inspired to draw them all of sudden. It was so tempting to give into the pull and lean in, but Chaeyoung stopped herself. Mina was taken, she was not going to make a move, especially with Mina’s daughter right beside them.

Thinking of Yeojin, Chaeyoung’s eyes flickered over to the girl on the floor. To her surprise, she was no longer playing the game and was watching the two adults silently.

Luna woke up and was eyeing them as well. Maybe Chaeyoung was exaggerating, but that’s what it truly felt like. Feeling the tension in the room, Chaeyoung decided to clear the silence.

“Well, I should probably get going. I still have a lot of arranging to do around the apartment.”

“Oh, well it was wonderful to spend the day with you Chaeyoung.” Mina said, standing up from the couch.

Chaeyoung stood up as well.

“Yeah, I really had a gre-“ Mina’s phone let out a ring, interrupting her.

Mina glanced at her phone.

“I’m so sorry Chaeyoung, I need to take this.”

“Hello Do Yun Ssi.” Mina answered as she walked down the hallway and disappeared into a room.

Fiddling with the ring on her finger, Chaeyoung wondered if she should just leave. She had no idea how long Mina was going to be on the phone, and didn’t want to overstay her welcome. They had basically said goodbye already anyway. Luna walked up to her feet and she picked up the dog. She turned her head to see Yeojin still watching her. The child’s expression was surprisingly unreadable.

“Yeojin, me and Luna are gonna go, it was really nice to play with you today.” She turned and started heading to the door.

“Wait!” Yeojin shouted, running right up to her, standing in front of the door, putting her hands out to block her.

“Yeah?”

“Do you… um…” Yeojin started playing with the frills of her skirt, looking away from Chaeyoung.

“What’s up Yeojin?” Chaeyoung asked, kneeling to be eye level with the girl.

She breathed out and suddenly a fierce expression was on her face.

“Do you like my mom?” She asked, pointing a finger her way.

“Well yeah, I like both of you.”

“No. I mean _like like_ my mom.” She demanded.

“Well…” Chaeyoung was shocked at the question. She really wasn’t expecting a five year old to pick up on stuff like this, or even ask about it. Maybe Chaeyoung should stop underestimating children. “... why do you ask?”

“So you do like her?” Yeojin said.

“No! Not like that.” Chaeyoung lied. She wasn’t sure if telling the daughter of the woman she has a crush on was a very good idea.

Yeojin squinted her eyes, and a thoughtful expression replaced her previously aggressive one. Moving from blocking the door, she came to pet Luna, who was still in Chaeyoung’s arms.

“My question still stands. Why do you ask kiddo?” Chaeyoung was confused now.

“Because I have to protect my mom.” Yeojin said while petting Luna’s head. Her answer really did nothing to clear her confusion.

“Well, I’m gonna get going Yeojin. Like I said, I had a great time today.”

“Me to Chaeyoung ssi.” To her shock, Yeojin wrapped her in a hug. At that moment, Mina walked in from her room. Chaeyoung didn’t notice since her back was facing the hallway.

“I’ll stop by soon, if you’d like me to Yeojin.”

“Yes please. And you better bring Luna with you.”

“Of course.” Chaeyoung patted her head and stood up.

“Well if you’re gonna do that, I should probably have your phone number.”

Chaeyoung jumped at Mina’s voice, turning to face the blonde, who had a wide grin on her face.

“Oh yeah, I’ll put it in your phone.” Mina handed it to her and Chaeyoung put in her number, changing her contact name to Chae.

“Text me so I have your number too.” Chaeyoung said, handing the phone back to Mina.

Mina nodded and sent her a penguin emoji.

“Well, see you for now.” Chaeyoung waved and opened the door.

“Bye!” Yeojin yelled.

“Bye Chaeyoung.” Mina waved.

-

The door shut behind her and Chaeyoung felt like she was going to collapse. So many things had happened today and Chaeyoung felt overwhelmed.

She entered her mess of an apartment and flopped on her couch. Chaeyoung certainly wasn’t lying when she said she had a lot of arranging to do. Trying to process everything that happened today was hard. Mina was hard to read. The lunch they had today was one thing on her mind. Specifically Mina and Sana. Never had she seen two people be so affectionate and not be dating. Then there was the underlying tension she felt throughout the day. Jeongyeon stared into her soul, and Yeojin, well, Yeojin was just a strange girl. It was confusing Chaeyoung. So many mixed signals from all of Mina’s friends. Chaeyoung was starting to get frustrated thinking about it.

Chaeyoung got up and sat at her cluttered desk. She shuffled through the box sitting on top of it and pulled out her sketchbook and her pencil case. Mina’s eyes were practically burned into her memory at this point, and when inspiration came, she wasn’t going to ignore it.

As the eyes took their shape, looking more and more like Mina, she thought about what she truly wanted. Making up her mind, she decided that trying to pursue something with Mina would probably end up hurting more in the end. It was just too confusing, and would probably be best to just savor the growing friendship instead.

So Chaeyoung put on a brave front and made up her mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mina playing Minecraft will forever be my favorite thing ever. Just saying....
> 
> Also i made this chapter fluffy and cute because the next is gonna be angsty


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ive been pretty inspired recently so here is ch 4, i also wanted to thank everyone for the kind comments, it really helps me keep going. and 130 kudos????? im sorry what???? thank you so much for reading :)
> 
> hopefully there arent too many errors i try to proof read best I can but its hard when you proofread your own writing sometimes

Mina was still in shock, staring down at her phone. She creased her brow in disbelief, reading the phone number over and over again. Chaeyoung left about 10 minutes ago, and the blonde was still anchored in her spot, unable to fully process everything that had happened. Yeojin went to the living room to keep playing Minecraft, but Mina, Mina was so full of happiness her heart felt like it was overflowing. 

After seeing her neighbor talking and hugging her daughter, Mina was overwhelmed with courage. If her daughter felt comfortable with Chaeyoung, that was really all Mina needed.

And she actually got Chaeyoung’s number!

Taking a deep breath to collect herself, she went back to the living room to play with Yeojin.

Getting comfortable in her seat and grabbing her controller, Mina logged her character back in. “Mommy, will you go get some fish for me?I need to tame all the cats ever.” Yeojin asked.

“Sure, there are leads in one of the chests, use those until you can tame them.” 

“Okay!”

Mina went to fish at a lake. One thing that sucked was fishing in this game. Sometimes it could take so long. Her mind wandered as she waited for a bite, and she glanced at her phone. Even though she just saw her neighbor, Mina really wanted to keep talking to Chaeyoung, and wondered if it would be appropriate to text her now. While mulling over the pros and cons of just texting her neighbor, Mina didn’t realize her character was being attacked by a skeleton.

‘ThePenguinPrincess was shot to death by a skeleton’ flashed across the screen.

“Mooooom, what are you doing? You died.” Yeojin whined.

“Oh, I didn’t even realize, sorry Yeojin.” Mina said, snapping out of her thoughts.

“But you never die, and you had the fish for the cats!” Yeojin exclaimed. “Why are you acting weird mommy?” 

Mina blushed, unsure of how to answer. Yeojin was pretty good at picking up on her moods. She was surprisingly aware.

“I was just thinking honey, I got a little distracted is all.”

“You better get that fish back mom. I already built a house for the cats to live in so I need cats.” Yeojin pouted, pressing her lips together in annoyance. 

“Of course JinJin. We can’t have an empty cat house.” Mina said, smiling at her daughter. 

-

Sundays were the days Mina would just stay in her pajamas all day and not do anything that required too much effort. Yeojin had a playdate with her friend Yoohyeon, so Mina would have the apartment all to herself for most of the day. 

“Mom, when is Yoo gonna be here?” Yeojin asked, tapping her fingers on the table as she sat, kicking her legs out in impatience.  
“I told you her mom texted me that they will be here in about 10 minutes. Be patient honey. If you want we can wait on the street for them to pull up.” 

“Yes please.” Yeojin hopped off her seat and ran to the door, pulling on her shoes before running out.

Mina pulled on her slippers before leaving to follow her. She checked her watch. It was almost noon. They should be here soon.

After a few more minutes of waiting filled with Yeojin’s impatient whines, Yoohyeon’s mom pulled up next to the sidewalk.

The window rolled down and Yoohyeon’s grinning face could be seen in the backseat.

“Jin! Over here.” She yelled, waving her arms wildly. 

“Yoo!” Yeojin ran up to the door, pulling it open and jumping in.

The passenger door window rolled down and Yoohyeon’s mom was waving at her.

“Hey Mina, it’s good to see you.”

Mina bowed and smiled. 

“Bo Hyun ssi, it is good to see you too.”

“Please Mina, call me unnie. Haven’t we known each other long enough?” 

“You’re right unnie.” Mina smiled.

They talked briefly while their daughters were giggling in the back seat.

“I’ll drop her off back here sometime after dinner.” Bo Hyun said, wrapping up the conversation. 

“Sounds good to me. Thanks again for picking her up.” Mina said, gratefully. “Yeojin, you be good, and have fun girls.”

“Bye mommy.” Yeojin said, waving as they drove away. 

Mina smiled to herself as she climbed the stairs back to her apartment. It made her happy to see her daughter with Yoohyeon. The two girls were really good friends, and Mina was so grateful for that. 

Mina was always shy, even as a kid. It has been hard for her to make friends her whole life. Mina is glad her daughter isn’t like her at all in that sense. Yeojin was super social and outgoing, she could approach anyone and talk to them for hours. The only thing Mina wanted was for Yeojin to be better in the places where Mina herself struggled.

Thinking of what she wanted to do, one thing came to her mind. On days like this, Mina would usually stay in and catch up on TV shows that she couldn’t watch with Yeojin or catch up on sleep.

Getting to her apartment however, Mina realized she didn’t want to stay in. Not today. She felt unusually motivated. Something truly felt different. Maybe it was time for Mina to finally go visit some old friends. 

Mina entered her apartment and went straight to her closet. Putting on some athletic shorts and a tank top, and wrapping her up in a high ponytail, she was out the door in a few minutes.

-

As she walked down the streets, getting closer to her destination, Mina felt giddy with excitement. A smile crept on her face and there was a hop in her step. Mina simply felt happy. 

Maybe it was the good morning text she got from her new neighbor, or maybe it was just that her daughter was happy. Maybe it was because she was finally visiting the studio after so long.

The familiar door soon came into view, and suddenly Mina felt nervous to enter. It had been months since she had last visited, and Mina felt awful about it. Even still, she pushed through the front door.

Dream Dance Studio had been a second home for Mina ever since she moved to South Korea. It had been a comfortable place for Mina to practice not only her dancing, but also her Korean as well. The instructors helped her acclimate to the new culture around her, and Mina felt forever in debt to them.

“Mina? Oh my gosh Mina!” 

“Tzuyu! It’s so good to see you!” Mina said. The girl behind the front desk ran uncharacteristically frantic from her place behind the counter and wrapped the blonde in a hug. 

“Mina I’m so glad you came to visit. I missed you a lot.” Tzuyu said, talking into her shoulder. Mina melted into the taller girl’s embrace. Tzuyu’s hugs were the best hugs.

“I missed you too, how are things here?” Mina asked, pulling away from the hug, but grabbing the taller girl’s hands.

“Things have been good. Pretty busy actually. Momo is teaching a class right now actually. It should be done soon.” 

“Sounds good. While we wait, tell me what you have been up to.” 

They sat down in the waiting room where some parents were sitting, and Tzuyu started talking about her classes and family. Mina was more than happy to simply listen to her friend talk.

“Oh, also I have been thinking about moving in with Momo because her roommate recently left. I think it would help with my rent problems and I would be closer to the campus and the studio.” Tzuyu said, grinning. 

“You want to spend even more time with Momo? How can you even stand working with her every day, much less live together?” Mina said, letting out a laugh.

Tzuyu laughed with her, “I mean, someone has to look out for her. Sometimes I wonder what goes on in her head.” 

“Mina?”

Speaking of Momo, Mina turned her head to see Momo, with her hair wrapped up in a ponytail, sweat glistening on her skin from just instructing for an hour, staring at her with a huge grin.

“Mina!” Momo yelled, running towards her. Mina barely had time to stand before Momo launched herself into Mina’s arms. She could barely catch the girl before Momo wrapped her arms and legs around her middle like a koala.

“Hi Momo.” Mina said, grunting with effort to hold the dancer up. 

Momo, ignoring the blonde's strained grunts, just hummed into her neck.

Some of the parents gave her strange looks, and Mina felt the heat rising to her cheeks from embarrassment. 

“Mina it’s about time you came to visit.” Momo said, finally unlatching herself from her death grip on the blonde and standing up.

“I’m so sorry for not visiting sooner Momo.” Mina looked down, unable to meet the older girl’s eyes.

“Mina, look at me.” Mina still looked away. She really didn’t want to cry. “Mina.” Momo tilted her head up. 

“It’s okay, really. I understand Mina. You don’t have to explain yourself.” Momo flashed a huge grin, and Mina couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on her lips.

“Come on, I don’t have another class for a while, lets go into one of the open studios.” Momo said, tugging Mina’s arm as she walked down the hallway. They entered one of the studios and Momo flicked on the light. Mina put her bag down by the door, looking around the room with a grin.

“So Mina, what do you want to start with.” Momo asked, scrolling through her phone connected to the speaker.

“Umm, could we do Crazy in Love?” Mina suggested, stretching her legs on the floor.

“Good choice.” Momo grinned searching it up on her phone.

Mina stretched out a little more before her and Momo got in position. As soon as the first notes rang out of the speakers, her body went on autopilot. Mina had obsessively practiced this dance, over and over again until it was second nature. Her and Momo worked so hard on it back when Mina was still in school. 

It felt so good to be dancing. Mina especially loved this dance because of how expressive and passionate it was. She truly gave everything she had into the movement. It was a tragic story that was told through the dance and Mina gave her all into telling it.

Even if they didn’t have the props, it was still an exhilarating dance. Momo was the best dance partner Mina ever had, and she felt blessed to be able to practice with her.

As the song wrapped, Mina was catching her breath, while Momo grabbed some waters. 

“Dang Mina, are you sure you haven’t been practicing somewhere because I would have been fooled to think you have been practicing all this time. You were flawless.” Mina blushed at the compliment.

“No way I would go to any dance studio but this one.” Mina said, laughing.

“Good, because I totally could start charging you to use the studios.” 

Mina smiled and took a sip of water. She always loved the feeling after finishing a dance, it was like coming down from a high. She took a deep breath and stretched out a little more.

“Hey Mina, I have a class to prep for, but you are more than welcome to stay here and practice.”

“Sounds good. Thank you Momo.”

Momo wrapped her in a hug. “I really am happy to see you Mina. Thanks for visiting again.”

With that, Momo left. 

Mina decided to practice her ballet. It had been so long, and Mina could feel her body itching to get back into it. After stretching out a little more, she connected her phone to the speaker and looked for a song.

Moonlight Drawn came to mind, so she put it on and got in her stance. While the contemporary style dance exhilarated Mina, ballet had a way of giving Mina clarity. She felt more focused and in tune with herself. Less of going through the motions and more of feeling the music. 

As Mina executed the choreography, her mind went to thinking about the past few days. A lot has changed. 

Mina really wanted to get to know Chaeyoung better. Even if it was just as friends. Something about Chaeyoung just attracted Mina. She felt intoxicated by the girl’s smile. The girl’s everything. 

She thought about how her friends all seemed to get along with Chaeyoung as well. It was super important to Mina what her friends thought. They were definitely better judges of character than Mina. Jeongyeon and Jihyo both mentioned how much they liked her, which now that Mina thinks about it, seems slightly suspicious. Jihyo never liked new people and vocalized it after meeting them once.

But, the most important person Mina needed approval from was Yeojin. And Yeojin loved Chaeyoung. Since Yeojin allowed the pink haired girl to live in her Minecraft house, that was all Mina needed. 

Even after all that, something was holding her back. It wasn’t that Chaeyoung was a girl. Mina had accepted her sexuality years ago, and it wasn’t an issue for her at all. 

The more Mina thought about it, the more scared she got of trying to pursue something with her neighbor. The last relationship Mina had was a year ago, when Yeojin was four. It was a nightmare. The relationship she had before that was with Yeojin’s father. 

Mina just never could get it right. Every relationship she has ever had ended in catastrophe. She wasn’t looking to fool around, Mina had no time for that. 

Mina really liked Chaeyoung. More than she has liked anyone before. Fear of her leaving Mina’s life was what was holding her back. Mina made some irreparable mistakes in her life. She was determined to not mess this up.

So, as the dance finished, Mina made up her mind. 

-

Mina danced a while longer, and she felt tired. But it was a good tired. The tiredness you felt after the relief of doing a good job. Mina forgot how much she missed the dance floor. She silently promised to herself to never go so long without visiting. 

“Tzuyu, it was great to see you, but have to go now.” Mina said, walking behind the counter to give the girl a hug. “Maybe I’ll have you two over sometime. Yeojin would love that.”

“Eww sweat. Mina you are nasty.” Tzuyu complained, wrapping her in a hug anyway. “I would love to come over sometime. In the meantime, you better come back soon. And bring Yeojin if you can. I miss her too.”

“I will come back soon, don’t worry.” Mina smiled up at her. “Tell Momo I’m sorry I couldn’t wait for her to finish her lesson, and I will be back soon.”

“I will. Bye Mina.” Tzuyu blew her a kiss on her way out.

Mina waved as she exited the dance studio. She checked her phone to see she had been dancing for almost three hours. 

She then realized how hungry she was. It was a little past four o’clock so she could probably get started on dinner when she got home.

The climb up the stairs to her floor was daunting. Mina really tired herself out dancing for so long. She got home and took a quick shower. Feeling refreshed, she pulled on a big sweater and some shorts.

She decided to make some miso soup, it always reminded her of home. Yeojin loved rice as a side, so she set up the instant pot to make some for sides.

She was operating on autopilot and didn’t even realize Yeojin wasn’t going to be home for dinner today. Mina accidentally made way more food than she needed. 

Glancing at her phone, she wondered what Chaeyoung was doing. She grabbed her phone and her thumb hovered over Chaeyoung’s contact name. Mina pushed herself to just text her.

Mina  
5:47 Hey Chae what are you up to rn?

Chae  
5:49 im just emptying the last of my suitcases

Mina  
5:50 i made a little more food then i need and was wondering if you wanted to come and eat

5:50 if you already ate i understand

Chae  
5:51 i was actually gonna just order takeout, but this sounds so much better

5:52 i will be right over ;)

Mina smiled. 

Then she realized Yeojin isn’t going to be here this time. It’s just going to be Chaeyoung. Mina started to panic. What if Chaeyoung thought Mina was boring or uninteresting? What if they ran out of things to talk about and it got awkward. Yeojin usually could talk to Chaeyoung about TV or something.

Was it bad that her five year old daughter could make conversation better than her mother?

Mina was snapped out of her thoughts by a knock at the door. Mina was suddenly extremely conscious of the Elsa and Ana sweater she had on. Not having enough time to change, she just opened the door. 

“Hey Chaeyoung, come in.” Mina said, opening the door wide for the girl.

“Hey Mina. Thanks for inviting me to dinner.” 

“No problem.” Mina smiled as she walked to the kitchen. “You can sit at the table. I made miso soup, I’ll get us our bowls.”

Chaeyoung took a seat while Mina poured out two bowls of soup, with a big plate of rice.

“Hey, where is Yeojin at?” Chaeyoung asked, looking around.

“She is at her friends house right now. It’s just you and me.” Mina said, grabbing spoons for the two of them. She didn’t notice the color draining from Chaeyoung’s face at what she just said. 

Mina set the bowl and rice in front of Chaeyoung before setting her food down and sitting. 

“I hope you like it.” Mina said. She grabbed her spoon and stirred her soup, unsure of what to say.

“So… what have you been up to today.” Chaeyoung asked.

“Well, after Yeojin got picked up, I went to my friend’s dance studio and practiced for a few hours before I came home.”

“Oh you dance! That’s so cool. I used to take dance classes when I was younger. I haven’t in a while.”

“Yeah, I’ve loved dance for as long as I can remember. I was actually studying dance at university before I had Yeojin.” Mina said. She looked down and took a sip of soup. It left a bad taste in her mouth to talk about university. “How was your day?” Mina asked, wanting to change the subject.

“Oh, well I had an early shift this morning. This guy came in and asked me if we sold powdered chicken. I didn’t even know that was a thing until he asked me.” Chaeyoung’s face scrunched up in disgust. “But after work I came home and have just been finishing up unpacking the last few boxes and stuff. My apartment is finally coming together. You can actually walk through it without weaving through a million boxes.” 

Mina smiled. “Well that’s good. I’m happy you're starting to get settled.”

“Yeah, it’s been a pretty smooth move.” Chaeyoung said.

They ate in silence after that. Mina wanted to talk to her more, or even just listen to Chaeyoung talk, but she felt nervous suddenly. 

Luckily, Chaeyoung was much more talkative.

“Wow Mina, this soup is amazing. You are a great cook. I’ve never tasted miso soup this good.” 

“Well, my grandma would be happy to hear that. It’s her recipe.” 

“I’ll have to let her know then.” Chaeyoung grinned.

“If you want to go to Japan and tell her, be my guest.” Mina teased.

“Oh, you're from Japan? I never would have guessed.” Chaeyoung said, widening her eyes.

“I’ve lived in South Korea for about seven years now. But yeah, I’m from Japan.” 

“Oh. It must be hard to be away from your home and family.” Chaeyoung said, eating another spoonful of soup.

“Well…” Mina trailed off. She looked down sadly. It was really unlikely her family wanted to see her at all, let alone missed her.

Chaeyoung seemed to notice Mina’s change in mood and changed the subject, which Mina was extremely grateful for.

“Hey, I meant to ask you. Did Yeojin end up getting two of every cat in Minecraft?”

“Oh, yeah! She made me fish for like twenty minutes while she ran around finding cats and putting them on leashes. She was very determined.” Mina said.

Chaeyoung laughed. Mina loved Chaeyoung’s laugh. Her dimples, her smile, everything. Especially her dimples. It was very tempting to reach over and poke her cheeks, but Mina held back. Mina felt like she needed to protect the younger girl at all costs.

“I can just imagine her running around with an army of cats trailing behind her.” Chaeyoung said between laughs. Mina couldn’t help but join in.

Chaeyoung put her spoon down and reached for the plate of rice. Mina noticed some small tattoos dotted on her hand and wrist. Mina can’t believe she didn’t notice them before, but she was struck with curiosity.

“I didn’t know you had tattoos, would you be able to show me?” Mina asked, nervously.

“Oh yeah! These are strawberry lips on my wrist, and I have flowers on my fingers.” Chaeyoung pointed. “These are carrots on my arm, and my little fish buddy.” She brushed her fingers over an elegantly inked fish. Chaeyoung rolled up the sleeve of her t-shirt to reveal two little tomatoes. “I have some tomatoes right here.” Chaeyoung tucked her pink hair behind her ear, revealing more ink under her ear. “This is the last tattoo I have. It’s an arrow through a heart.” 

“Wow, they are so pretty. I’ve always wanted to get Yeojin’s name tattooed on me, but I’m really nervous to get one.” 

“Well, everyone’s pain tolerance is different. But I love my tattoos. It is totally worth it. The only reason I don’t have more is they can be very expensive.”

“Yeah I can only imagine.” Mina said.

“The artist I go to is super good at different fonts and scripts. I could totally send you her Instagram if you ever want to see her work or have the time to get one.”

“Thanks Chae, I’ll keep that in mind.” 

Mina finished eating before Chaeyoung. She didn’t realize she spaced out watching the younger girl until she lightly tapped her shoulder. 

“Oh, sorry Chaeyoung, I didn’t even notice I spaced out.” Mina said, blushing.

“No problem, I just was gonna tell you the food was amazing.” 

“Thanks so much Chaeyoung.” Mina stood up, grabbing their dirty dishes and heading to the sink. 

“Hey, I’ll dry if you wash.” Chaeyoung said, following her to the sink.

“Sure, catch.” Mina threw a towel in Chaeyoung’s direction and got started washing the bowls.

They were done in a few minutes.

“Well, would you like to go sit in the living room? Maybe put on a movie?” Mina asked, putting the spoons away in their drawer.

“Yeah sounds good!” Chaeyoung said, skipping over and flopping on Mina’s couch. Mina smiled as she grabbed a blanket for them to share and sat down gracefully next to her.

“You know, you being a dancer makes so much sense now that I think about it.” Chaeyoung remarked. Mina raised her eyebrow, urging her to continue.

“It’s just, you are so elegant in whatever you do. The way you sit or do the dishes or eat. The way you speak. I think you were probably royalty in a past life.” Chaeyoung said, smiling with her adorable dimples. Mina just smiled at her.

“See! Even your smile, it's beautiful.” Mina blushed at that, turning away to grab the TV remote.

“Thanks Chaeyoung. You’re very kind. What do you want to watch?” Mina asked, scrolling through Netflix. Deciding on some American cartoon, they sat back and relaxed. Mina offered the blanket to Chaeyoung, who scooted closer to accept. Mina felt her back straighten at how close they were to each other. She could move her knee just a few inches and would hit Chaeyoung’s leg. 

They watched for a while, until Mina’s phone buzzed. Mina looked to see it was Bo Hyun, and she was on her way with Yeojin. They would be about five minutes.

“Hey, Yeojin’s friend is dropping her off in five minutes. I’m gonna head out to wait for her. You’re welcome to come with if you want. Chaeyoung nodded. Mina paused the show and went to the door, pulling on her slippers. Chaeyoung pulled on her shoes and they both headed down to the sidewalk.

“I’m just gonna warn you. Yeojin gets a little hyper around her friend Yoohyeon. I think Yoohyeon’s mother spoils them with sugar.” Chaeyoung laughed.

“Honestly I don’t think I would be able to say no to Yeojin. If she asked for candy, she would get candy from me.”

“Trust me, it can be very hard.” Mina and Chaeyoung laughed. 

The familiar red Toyota Rav4 pulled up to the curb where they were waiting. The door opened and Yeojin gave Yoohyeon a hug before jumping out and running to Mina. She jumped into Mina’s arms.

“Hi mommy! Hi Chaeyoung ssi!” Yeojin ran to give Chaeyoung a quick hug before running back to the car, where Yoohyeon was half hanging out the window. While they started a complex hand shake, Mina walked up to talk to Bo Hyun.

“Hi Bo Hyun unnie, thank you again for doing all this.” Mina said.

“It’s no problem really. Yeojin is so fun to have over. Her and Yoo are really get along well.” Bo Hyun smiled.

“Oh unnie, this is Chaeyoung.” Mina gestured to the pink haired girl. She waved awkwardly as Bo Hyun greeted her.

“Hello Chaeyoung ssi, it's nice to meet you.” 

“Nice to meet you too.” 

“Well, thanks again unnie. I will see you later.” Mina said as Yeojin and Yoohyeon finally wrapped up their hand shake.

“Bye Yoo!” Yeojin shouted as they drove. Yoohyeon shouting ‘bye’ could be heard in the distance as they drove off. Mina and Chaeyoung giggled.

“Hey Yeojin, how was Yoohyeon’s?” Mina asked, grabbing the girl’s bag.

“It was fun, but I’m so tired. We played with her dog and ate snacks and played with her older sister and I’m just tired.” Mina smiled and put her bag over her shoulder, before lifting her tired daughter. Chaeyoung held open the door for Mina.

“We were watching TV inside if you want to sit with us Yeojin.” 

“Yes please.”

“Chae, my keys are in my back pocket. Could you grab them?”

“Uh… sure.” 

Mina felt her keys slip out of her back pocket extremely carefully. Mina giggled. 

Chaeyoung opened the door and they entered. Mina sat Yeojin at the end of the couch, Chaeyoung sat at the other end, putting Mina in the middle.

Yeojin immediately pressed up against Mina’s side as she covered them with the blanket. Mina held up the left side, silently inviting Chaeyoung.

Mina could see her hesitation, but Chaeyoung scooted up to Mina’s right side. She pressed play and the trio watched in silence. Yeojin kept yawning and eventually the girl fell asleep cuddled into Mina’s side. 

Chaeyoung let out a big yawn and Mina looked down to see the girl battling to keep her eyes open. 

“Tired?” Mina asked.

“Yeah, I stayed up kinda late last night drawing. When I get in the groove time just flies bye.” 

Chaeyoung pulled the blanket up a little and lifted her legs up on the couch, resting her head on Mina.

“Do you mind if I…?”

Mina couldn’t even answer, her brain was glitching. Chaeyoung pressed up against her halted any coherent thoughts from forming. 

Mina relaxed and soon Chaeyoung’s breathing leveled and she was asleep.

The exhaustion of dancing earlier finally started taking its toll and Mina felt her eyes droop. Mina gave in to her exhaustion and rested her head on top of Chaeyoung’s. The three girls stayed there cuddled on the couch, while the TV softly played in the background. Everything felt like it was exactly where it was supposed to be. Mina couldn’t be happier in this moment as she drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> by the way that powder chicken story is true, some dude really asked me if we carried powder chicken I-  
> pain
> 
> anyway have a lovely day be safe :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really upset when I wrote part of this so if it shows through like random change in tone sorry about that. I hope you this next chapter was worth the wait. Also 200 kudos????? Wtf you guys are too much where did you even come from lol

Mina wasn’t sure what to do today. It was Saturday, and usually Jeongyeon would visit and they would spend the day together, but the older girl called her late last night saying she was busy. Mina had a feeling the girl was with Nayeon, because for the past week at work, Nayeon was more annoying than usual. 

As much as the two of them annoyed Mina to death, she was really happy she helped the two girls meet. Small things changed about both girls. Nayeon seemed less nervous about her big debut project and she seemed even more confident than she already was. At work, Nayeon seemed more willing to bring up her own ideas for the concept and in the production. Nayeon constantly brought them up to Mina while waiting for her boss. 

Jeongyeon seemed inspired. She talked to Mina a lot more about ideas she had for beats and songs, her fingers constantly tapping a beat on whatever surface in front of her. It seemed the two were helping each other out a lot. 

Still, it was strange to not have Jeongyeon around. Mina had grown so used to the girl storming in on her Saturday mornings. The amount of sleep Mina was getting was suspicious to say the least. 

Yeojin eventually woke her up, climbing onto her bed and removing the covers off of Mina to get under them. 

“Morning JinJin.” Mina said, pulling the covers back up over both of them. 

“Hi mommy, where is auntie Jeongyeon?” Yeojin asked, snuggling closer to her mother.

“She told me that she wasn’t able to come today.” 

“Ugh I’m bored, can we play?” 

“Yeah just… five more minutes.” Mina mumbled, shutting her eyes and pulling her daughter close. Mina savored just being with her daughter. She wanted to show Yeojin all the love in the world. 

Mina was about to fall back asleep when Yeojin started moving around in her arms. Mina opened her eyes to see Yeojin staring widely at her.

“What honey?” 

“Can we build the lego set auntie Jihyo got me?” Yeojin asked.

“Oh, you don’t want to build it with her?”

Yeojin shook her head. “I don’t wanna wait. I really want to play with it already.” 

“Okay, let’s get started on it then.” 

“Yes!” Yeojin shouted as she jumped off the bed and ran out. Mina pulled off the covers and got up after her. Heading out of her room, she walked over to the dining table. Mina always required a clean workspace, so she cleared off Yeojin’s school work from the table and some loose dishes. 

Yeojin ran in with the box from her room. Slamming it on the table as she jumped on a chair, Yeojin’s smile grew as she examined the box. 

“I can’t wait! This set has so many pieces.” 

“Which Marvel movie is it from again? I can’t quite remember.” Mina asked.

“Mom! Do you ever pay attention when we watch TV? The Helicarrier was from The Winter Soldier.”

“Oh.” Mina smiled at her daughter’s cute pout while she opened the box, grabbing the instructions and dumping out all the bags of pieces. She ripped open the bag with the number 1.

“I wanna make all the characters, you can start with the ship.” Yeojin said, digging out all the body parts from the pile.

“Okay.”

They built for a while, Mina digging out pieces while Yeojin attached them to the build. Yeojin’s enthusiasm and love of legos really mirrored Mina’s. They continued to build until Mina’s phone ringing interrupted.

“I’ll get it.” Yeojin said, running to Mina’s room. Before Mina could even protest, she ran to her room and back out with Mina’s phone in hand.

“Hello?” Yeojin answered. Mina was still tired and didn’t really process what was going on.

“Hi Chaeyoung ssi!” Mina perked up, hearing who was at the other end.

“Oh, my mom is right here, here you go.” Yeojin handed her the phone, “Mom, its Chaeyoung ssi.” She whispered.

“Good morning Chaeyoung.” Mina said, clearing her throat.

“Hi Mina, sorry if I woke you.” Chaeyoung said, Mina could tell there was nervousness in her voice.

“Don’t be sorry,” Mina assured, glancing at the clock, “you didn't wake me.”

“Oh, that’s good.” There was a pause as the younger girl trailed off.

“So... did you need something?” Mina asked.

“Oh! Well um…see I was calling to ask you a favor. I just- well I don’t really know how to ask.”

“It’s no problem, what do you need?” 

“Well, for university, we have this upcoming gallery and I want to paint a portrait for it and I-well I need someone to model and I was wondering if you would be willing to let me paint you?” Chaeyoung asked.

“Oh, well I’d love too.” Mina said, smiling.

“Oh great! Also, the gallery is gonna show a bunch of students' artwork in two weeks and I would love it if you and Yeojin would come! Some of my other artwork from earlier in the year is gonna be in it and I would love for you to see it! Plus a few of my friends will be there and I think you would really like them.”

“That sounds awesome Chae! Just tell me when and I can come over. I’m really excited for you.”

“Thanks Mina. If you’re not doing anything, maybe we could get started today?”

“Yeah, Yeojin and I were working on building some legos, but I’m sure she wouldn’t mind taking a break to visit for a bit. We’ll be at your place in a few minutes.”

“Okay, see you soon!”

Mina hung up the phone and set it down. Now that she thought about it, in the weeks they have known Chaeyoung, she has never actually been in her apartment, aside from moving her in. They always spent time outside someplace or at Mina’s.

Mina got up and went into the living room. Yeojin was sitting on the couch with her stuffed puppy, playing with it.

“Hey Yeojin, how would you feel about takinng a break and spending the day at Chaeyoung’s place?”

Yeojin smiled and nodded. “That sounds like fun! Is Luna there?”

“I’m sure she is. We can go as soon as you get changed out of your pajamas.”

“Okay!”

Yeojin got up and ran to her room. Mina went back to her room to change out of her own pajamas, getting into something comfortable. 

After getting ready in the bathroom, Mina emerged to find Yeojin in the kitchen.

“Yeojin? What are you up to?”

“I’m making us breakfast so we can go.”

‘Breakfast’ consisted of the cookies Yeojin and Jihyo baked yesterday and some sour candy Yeojin was saving.

Mina smiled at her daughters urgency to get going and her idea of what a good breakfast was. Shaking her head, Mina got to work making them a quick, actual meal.

When they finished eating, Mina left, locking her door and heading to the apartment next door on the right. Yeojin ran up to Chaeyoung’s door and excitedly knocked. Immediately, Luna could be heard barreling towards the door. A few moments later it opened, with Chaeyoung bent over holding onto Luna’s leash to stop her from bursting out the door. 

“Hey guys. Come in.” Chaeyoung said with a grin. She pulled Luna to the side so they could make their way in. The loose jeans she was wearing were covered with paint stains of many colors. A light brown apron she had on over her clothes was in similar condition. Her pink hair was up in a messily done bun, and she had a happy expression on her face.

Mina was instantly hit with the smell of paint as she walked in. Looking around, her apartment seemed to really suit Chaeyoung’s personality. Paintings and sketches were on the walls, some of landscapes, some of figures Mina couldn’t quite make out. By the table there was a shelf of clay vases and a sculpture of a hand. Flowers and plants were placed among the furniture in the apartment, giving a sweet smell underneath the paint.

“Wow, Chaeyoung did you make all of these?” Mina walked closer to a painting of a woman.

“That is a painting of my mom I did. I didn’t make all of them, that sculpture of the hand was a gift from my friend.”

“Wow, you are just amazing. I can’t wait to see your work at the gallery.”

Yeojin ran after Luna while Chaeyoung guided Mina into one of the rooms down a small hallway. A large drop cloth covered the carpet, with a canvas set up in one of the corners. A large desk covered in containers, tubes of paint, and all kinds of brushes filled the opposite corner. Leaning on the desk to the side of it was a few more canvases. 

“I was just mixing paint before you came here. Now that you are here though I can work on your skin tones and stuff like that.” Chaeyoung said, walking to fhe desk and grabbing a container. Shen turned to look at Mina and smiled once more, lI really want to thank you for agreeing to do this for me.”

Mina smiled at Chaeyoung, “I am really happy you asked me.” 

“Let me grab you a chair real quick.” Chaeyoung walked out quickly for a momentbefore coming back in with a chair.

“Here, it may be a few minutes before I actually start. I wanna get my color palette worked out first.” Chaeyoung said, walking to the desk again. Mina followed, peering over her shoulder to see what she was doing. 

Chaeyoung continued squeezing paint out of the tube and mixing them together. Mina enjoyed watching her. The way she quietly humbed to herself, bouncing her shoulders in a dance to whatever tune she humbed. 

Chaeyoung was too cute.

The very same girl was now staring at Mina, her eyebrows raised.

“What?” Mina asked, raising her brow back.

“You were just, um… really close and staring and I was a little surprised.” 

Mina realized how close she had gotten, looking over the girl’s shoulder, but instead of backing up she stopd her ground. Mina was constantly battlin herself every time she was with the artist. It was getting harder to pretend. She would let Chaeyoung decide.

“Do you want me to back up?”

“I um-yeah please.” Mina noticed Chaeyoung’s ears turning red, and she did as she was asked, slightly disappointed at the girl’s answer. Sometimes Mina struggled accepted she was a delusional gay. 

Mina turned to sit on the chair Chaeyoung grabbed for her, and even though it shouldn’t have, her mood dampened. She really hoped Chaeyoung wasn’t weirded out by what just happened. Mina wasn’t stupid, she caught Chaeyoung staring sometime, but maybe not for the reason she thought. After all, Mina has caught a lot of people staring at her, people she knew and strangers. Maybe it was something else. 

Letting out a breath, she bottled up her emotions. Not the time, she silently reminded herself. 

Chaeyoung continued mixing paint of all shades until an array of browns and lighter skin tones were covering the table. Grabbing a smaller table and setting it next to the easel, she arranged the paint and looked at Mina expectantly.

“So, you probably are gonna have to sit there for a while, at least till I get a solid sketch ready. I just want you to pose naturally and comfortablely. The most important thing is that you’re comfortable, and if you ever need a break tell me.”

Mina nodded and sat up right, curling her lips up slightly.

Chaeyoung looked at her pose closely before walking over the window to open the shade higher for more natural lighting.

“There, perfect. Also, do you mind if I take your photo? Just for comparison when the painting is done.”

“Yeah that’s fine.” 

Chaeyoung smiled and grabbed a DSLR camera that was resting on the table and pulled it up to take a photo. The shutter clicked a few times and soon the artist scrolled through the photos, nodding to herself as she put it back down.

“Okay, we can actually start now.” 

It actually was silent between the two of them, Yeojin could be heard playing in the other room with Luna, but between Chaeyoung and Mina nothing was exchanged.

A thick tension settled in the air. Mina wondered if Chaeyoung felt it, or if Mina was still just angry at herself.

Chaeyoung was still using a pencil to lay down a sketch when Yeojin came in with Luna on her heels to watch. She plopped down on the floor behind Chaeyoung.

“Wow, you’re so good Chaeyoung ssi.”

“Thanks Yeojin.” Chaeyoung said, smiling down at the girl.

Chaeyoung looked back and forth at Mina and the canvas after putting the pencil. Mina had never really seen this side of Chaeyoung in the time they had known each other. She was very deliberate and clearly put herself under a lot of scrutiny with how much she had been erasing earlier. 

“Yeojin, you think it's ready for paint?” 

“Yeah, it’s so good!” 

“Okay, let's do it.”

Chaeyoung grabbed a brush and selected a container of paint. Mina wasn’t how long she was sitting there, but it was getting harder to meet Chaeyoung’s eyes. The way she examined her face was not something that Mina was prepared for. 

As time went on, Mina was getting frustrated. It was hard to sit in the same room with Chaeyoung while she was struggling like this. The frustration was mostly at herself. She has been trying so hard to suppress her feelings, but the more time she spent with Chaeyoung, the opposite happened. It was impossible not to fall for the girl. Her free spirited nature was liberating to be around. Her art was inspiring, and the reason Mina got back into dancing. The relationship that developed between Chaeyoung and Yeojin made Mina’s heart soar. To see them in the living room watching who knows what, while Mina cooked dinner on the weekends they spent together meant everything to Mina. 

They were both adults. Mina could handle this like an adult and communicate to Chaeyoung what she was feeling, right? Of course, in reality Mina would rather die than ever bring up her feelings.

Maybe the best thing to do was to distance herself, at least a little until she could figure out how to control her emotions. Yeojin wouldn’t like it, but it was for the best. Mina actually thought Chaeyoung was interested for a short period of time, thinking back to one Saturday they spent together.

-

Mina held Yeojin’s hand as they walked down the street. Chaeyoung walked on the other side of the younger girl, looking at her phone.

“Hey, Mina, did you hear about the fall festival happening in the city. It’s gonna go on till next weekend.”

“Oh yeah, Jihyo took me and Yeojin there last year. It was fun wasn't it Yeojin?” 

“Yeah can we go? They had a petting zoo with the cutest animals. Mom we have to go.”

“Okay, let’s get going then.”

The trio walked a little bit longer, before getting on a bus that would take them in the right direction. Yeojin still held Mina’s hand, but grabbed Chaeyoung’s hand as well. When they first met, the pink haired girl would have gotten nervous with Yeojin, but now she just smiled at her, and they started talking about their plans for the minecraft world they had been working on. 

“We should also build a big barn, so the cows and pigs won’t get cold. They need a house too.”

“Okay, we will do that when we play next. Mina are you gonna help us make a barn this time or run around killing stuff the whole time.”

Mina laughed and nodded. 

“I will try to help.” Mina smiled. Their stop came after a few minutes and they all got off the bus, walking the rest of the way there. 

“So, are you girls hungry, or should we wait to eat?”

“Can we wait, I wanna pet the goats!” Yeojin said, tugging on both of their hands. 

Yeojin pulled them along from one attraction to another. With Yeojin’s seemingly infinite energy, it didn’t take much to tire out the two adults looking after her. 

So there they sat, each with a cone of icecream. 

“Can I be honest Mina?”

“Of course, Chaeyoung.”

“Well…” Chaeyoung looked down at her shoes. “I just… I really feel happy. Spending time with you and Yeojin has just been such a blessing, you have really been a blessing in my life. I’m not really sure what I’m trying to say, I guess I just want to say how much I appreciate you spending your time with me. I don’t take that lightly.” 

Mina was rendered speechless. It really showed how unprepared she was for someone like Chaeyoung. 

“I think I’m happier than I’ve ever been in a long time. I think I-“

Chaeyoung was cut off by a squeal from Yeojin, who ran off towards a group of horse riders.

Mina sighed and jumped up following her.

-

Mina couldn’t help but wonder what Chaeyoung was going to say if she wasn’t interrupted. While Chaeyoung painted, her mind couldn’t help but fill in the gaps, trying to think of what the artist was going to say. Maybe it was nothing, and Mina was overthinking everything, but it seemed really important to Chaeyoung. It was tempting to ask Chaeyoung about, but Mina didn’t know if she had the courage to do that. Not anymore at least.

“Okay Mina, I think maybe we should call it a day. I’ve got a pretty solid start, just let me know when you are free next and we can continue.”

Mina stood up stretched, while Chaeyoung put the lids on her paint and washed her brushes.

She left the studio to check on Yeojin, who was currently trying to read Luna a story. The dog was laying her head on Yeojin’s lap, while she sounded out the words she struggled recognizing. 

Mina couldn’t help but take a picture to capture the moment. Chaeyoung entered the room and smiled.

“Yeojin is so happy here, honestly Chaeyoung thank you.”

“Mina…” Chaeyoung took a step forward, invading Mina’s space. “I enjoy having you guys around.” 

Mina’s body unconsciously took a step forward. The two women were mere inches apart, and Mina could feel the pull, it took everything Mina had in her to wrap her arms around the pink haired girl and kiss her. Mina finally admitted to herself what she wanted. She wanted Chaeyoung.

Mina snapped out of her daze when she heard Yeojin make a noise. Looking over, the girl had shut the book loudly and was watching them. 

“Well, do you guys wanna stay and do something else for the rest of the day?” Chaeyoung asked.

“Actually we should get going, sorry Chaeyoung.”

“No it’s no problem. Make sure you let me know when you’re free to finish the painting.” 

“Okay, bye Chaeyoung.” 

“Mom, why do we have to go?” Yeojin whined.

“Sorry JinJin, we are leaving.” 

Yeojin gave Chaeyoung a hug before following her mother to the door. “Bye Chaeyoung ssi!” Yeojin yelled before the two of them left out the door.

“Bye Yeojin, bye Mina.”

Mina waved as Chaeyoung shut the door. As soon as they entered their own apartment, Mina felt a tug on her arm. Mina looked down to see Yeojin looking at her.

“Mom do you have a crush on Chaeyoung ssi?”

“What do you mean, no I don’t.” Mina answered, surprised at the question.

“Why do you act so,” Yeojin made a face, “weird around her. Are you lying?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Mina crossed her arms. “Want to keep working on the legos?”

Yeojin recognized her mother was trying to change the subject.

“Come on mom, I think you like her.”

“Yeojin, drop it, do you want to build legos or go to your room?”

Yeojin sighed and climbed on her chair and they continued building Yeojin’s legos. 

-

That night Mina turned her bed, trying to get comfortable, but her mind wouldn’t pause. She couldn’t stop thinking about how hard it was getting to hide her feelings. Being with Chaeyoung and not being able to express what she was feeling no longer felt possible. Her fear was she was going to say something or do something she couldn’t take back or fix. Maybe she just needed some distance from her to clear her head. She thought of how unfair it was for Chaeyoung to tell her to back up, but then invade her space soon after.

Still, it was hard for Mina to fall asleep. She knew how much Yeojin enjoyed spending time with Chaeyoung and Luna. She didn’t want to upset Yeojin, but also needed to think of herself. But would this really help?

Mina felt unstable and overwhelmed at the moment. She didn’t want to keep thinking about it. As she laid there, soon droplets of rain started pelting her window. It started out slow, but gradually increased in intensity. Mina didn’t realize there was going to be rain tonight. A flash lit up her window, making Mina flinch, and a few seconds later a loud thunder clap followed. 

Taking a deep calming breath, she did her best to ignore the thunder. Even into adulthood, her childhood fears followed her. Mina curled up and tried her best to sleep. Unfortunately, her body wouldn’t rest.

Sighing, she stood up and quietly walked to the kitchen. Mina wondered if tea would help her sleep. She put a pot of water on the stove and waited for it to boil. The constant sound of rain Mina actually enjoyed, the thunder however, made her uneasy.

While waiting for the water to boil, she looked at her phone. The last time there was a storm, Mina texted Chaeyoung and the younger girl talked to her on the phone until Mina was lulled to sleep. It was tempting to call her again, but for now, Mina wanted distance between them. She would just have to suck it up.

The kettle whistled and Mina turned off the heat. She poured the boiling water into her penguin mug Jihyo gave her in highschool. She really loved this mug. Stirring in a spoonful of honey, she walked to the couch and sat down, trying to ignore the flashes of lightning and thunder that came after. It was hard to ignore the urge to message Chaeyoung to see if she was up, but Mina distracted herself sipping her tea. 

Was she really overthinking things with Chaeyoung? Maybe she was just acting stupid. Chaeyoung was so attractive to Mina, she was everything Mina looked for in a partner. Why couldn’t she just tell her? Chaeyoung was the most understanding person, she wouldn’t mind, would she?

Finishing her tea, she put her mug into the sink before walking back to her room. The thunder had stayed consistent and it was still raining hard. 

Back in her bedroom, she heard her phone start to ring. Mina picked it up to see it was Chaeyoung calling her. She so badly wanted to answer the phone, but reminded herself she needed some time away from the girl.

She set the phone back down and let it ring.

This was for the best.

-

It was now Friday, and Mina had been relatively successful in her mission to avoid Chaeyoung. It wasn’t too hard, considering how busy it was getting at work. Mina always had an excuse. Nayeon’s debut announcement was creating such a buzz in the industry, considering how big of a company JYPE is. Lots of people were interested in Nayeon, which meant a lot of messages to look through. Running around after her boss was getting more tiring than usual. Lots of things needed to be done, including setting up Nayeon with interviews on all sorts of TV shows, including some notorious Youtubers. It was a lot of work to keep up with it all. She felt like she was Nayeon’s assistant and Bo Hyun’s. She felt bad though, Nayeon’s schedule was so packed, it stressed Mina out to just look at it. 

What she didn’t have an excuse for was not answering her texts. Chaeyoung has sent her a lot of texts. Mina felt awful, but she couldn’t tell Chaeyoung how she felt. If Chaeyoung miraculously returned feelings, she simply wouldn’t know what to do. Starting another relationship, with how damaging her last ones had been was scary. It was easier to convince herself she was meant to be single. 

If Chaeyoung didn’t return feelings, things would be weird and awkward and Mina didn’t want to throw away what they had.

-

Mina was coming home from work on the subway. She was so ready for the weekend she thought she was going to cry at the thought of her bed. 

Recently sleep has been yet another thing Mina had been struggling with.

She walked down the street after getting off at her stop, looking at all the familiar shops on the street. Mina dreaded the thought of the stairs she would have to climb when she arrived at the apartment. 

“I’m home!” Mina exclaimed as she entered. Looking around, she saw Jihyo sitting on the couch with Yeojin, with the TV playing in the background.

Yeojin ran up and gave her a hug. The girl was unusually quiet. Wrapping Yeojin in her arms, she lifted the girl up to try to see her face, but she buried her face into Mina’s neck.

“Hi Mina.” Jihyo said, getting up from her seat.

“Jihyo, did something happen?” Mina asked, confused by Yeojin’s behavior.

“I’m not sure, she hasn’t said a word to me since I picked her up.”

“Yeojin baby, is everything all right?” Mina said, rubbing the girl’s back softly.

The five-year old didn’t say anything, hugging her closer. 

Mina frowned in concern. This wasn’t like her usually bright daughter at all. 

“Want to lay down in bed?” Mina asked. Mina felt Yeojin nod , so she walked over to her room. She pulled back Yeojin’s frog pattern bed sheets and tucked the girl in. Bending down to give the girl a kiss on her forehead, she saw how red her eyes were, probably from crying.

She pulled up a chair and sat next to her bed, humming a slow song until the girl passed out.

Mina left the room and shut the door gently. Jihyo was standing outside.

“I was gonna call you but I figured it would be better if you were home. She was crying when we left school in the car.” Jihyo said softly, leading Mina to the couch where they both sat down.

“It must have been something that happened at school. She was fine this morning.” Mina said, her mind was racing with worry. “I’m really worried, what do you think could have happened? Maybe the school emailed me something or called and I didn’t see.”

Mina pulled out her phone, she didn’t have any missed calls. There were also no emails from Yeojin’s school.

“I guess she will tell me when she wakes up, maybe she will feel better.”

“Yeah. So anyway, how are things with you and the neighbor?” Jihyo asked innocently. Mina shrugged.

“I haven’t seen her in a while. We’re fine.”

“She actually stopped by before you came home. Said she wanted to work on some painting because of a deadline. What’s that about?”

“Oh… well,” Mina trailed off, embarrassed, “she asked to paint me for a gallery showcase coming up. I just haven’t had the time to go over and finish.”

Jihyo raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Wait, she’s painting you? For a gallery?” 

Mina nodded her head.

“When is the deadline?” Jihyo asked, her brows scrunching.

“Next Saturday.”

“When are you gonna go?”

Mina shrugged. Her phone started ringing and Mina pulled it out to see Chaeyoung’s name. She quickly set it down.

“Why don’t you answer it?” 

“I just, I can’t talk to her right now.” 

The phone continued to ring and Jihyo narrowed her eyes at Mina, who fidgeted under her gaze.

“Mina, earlier you would answer the phone before Chaeyoung even called you.” Jihyo said with a chuckle. “Did something happen?”

“No, it’s just… I need some space is all.” 

“Why?” 

“I just…” Mina looked down, unable to come up with an excuse. Not one Jihyo would believe anyway.

“Mina, are you avoiding her? Why?”

“I’m just scared Jihyo. I’m scared.” Mina said quietly, not looking up.

“Oh Mina, why do you like to punish yourself like this? Honestly I don’t think Chaeyoung is like the other people you dated in the past. Yeojin talks so much about her when I pick her up. Not to mention I can tell she is interested in you.”

“What! You’re lying.” Mina said, looking up in shock. 

“Do you think she would ask to paint you and spend so much time one on one with you? Why do you think she literally takes you out to date spots all around the city if you were just friends? Come on, I know you have seen the way she looks at you.”

“I can’t do it. If she really liked me wouldn’t she have asked me out by now?” 

“Maybe she’s shy and useless like you.” Jihyo said, poking her arm. 

Mina smiled slightly at that. Jihyo pulled her into a hug.

“I really like her Jihyo, what if I mess up?” Mina mumbled into Jihyo’s shoulder, savoring the girl’s hug.

“Mina, I don’t think there’s any way you could lose her. You guys have become too big in each other’s lives. Just talk to her. Avoiding it won’t help either of you.”

“What if I freeze? I don’t think I could actually say it to her face.”

“Mina, it’s all up to you. I know you can do it. All I want is for you and Yeojin to be happy. Think of how happy JinJin would be to see Luna even more.” 

Mina chuckled and pulled back from Jihyo’s arms.

“Thank you Jihyo. What would I do without you?”

“I don’t even want to know.” Jihyo joked, earning a punch from Mina.

They two sat in silence after that, watching an American drama Mina loved on the TV. As they got into the second episode, Mina heard footsteps from the hallway, and turned to see Yeojin with tears in her eyes, standing in the hallway holding her stuffed puppy.

“JinJin? What’s wrong?” Mina asked, rushing over to her. Jihyo shit off the Tv, leaving the room quiet, except for Yeojin’s sniffles.

“Mom… I’m sorry.” Yeojin said, fresh tears rushing out of her eyes. Mina wiped her tears with her thumbs, pulling Yeojin into a hug. She gestured to Jihyo to ask her to grab a tissue. 

“Don’t be sorry, what’s wrong? The only way I can help is if I know what’s wrong.”

“Thi-this kid in my class, he called me a mean word! Yooh came and c-called him something mean back and he…” Yeojin paused, crying more. 

Jihyo came with a box of tissues. Mina looked at her gratefully before grabbing one and holding it to Yeojin’s nose.

“Here, blow your nose.” Yeojin did as she was told, and Mina wiped more tears off her face. “What did he do after that?” Mina asked as gently as possible. 

“H-he kicked me and Yooh, and then he said something about y-you mommy.” 

“Where did he kick you?” Mina asked.

“In my stomach.” Yeojin pointed, finally calming slightly.

Mina lifted up her shirt gently to see a purple bruise above the girl’s hip bone. Mina became so angry. Angrier than she had ever been. 

But, she needed to comfort her daughter above all else.

“Yeojin, it’s okay. Let me get some ice for you. I want you to know that boy must have noodles in his brains, because nothing he said was true. When did this happen?”

“On the playground at recess.”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re okay. I'm glad you told me. Tell you what, if want we can go get some ice cream, if you don’t want to today we can go tomorrow. I’m so sorry that happened to you.” 

“Can we go now?” 

“Of course. Jihyo wanna go with?” 

“Sure.” 

The trio headed to the door and pulled on their shoes. Mina was very upset. She wasn’t really sure what the best way to handle this was. 

She opened the door ready to leave, when she came face to face with Chaeyoung, her hand up like she was about to knock on the door.

Curse her terrible luck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im thinking only one more chapter to finish this up. But like, Chaeyoung has the best timing coming over wow  
> 👁👄👁
> 
> Also i wasnt thorough when editing so sorry for errors.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> um because there simply hasnt been enough conflict here you go. Also Im so sorry i fully intended for this to be the last chapter but as i wrote i had some ideas to introduce some new characters and just went with it. I really wanted to put this out so i SWEAR I WILL FINISH THIS LAST CHAPTER SOON. ugh why do i do this to myself
> 
> anyway, can we talk about loona and twices comebacks??????????????? they were both so good and we got albums too????? please listen to both loonas new album and twice if you havent already. They are so good like they have really put in a lot of work you can tell. My favorite track from loonas new album is gonna have to be Voice, and from twice im really torn between HANDLE IT and BEHIND THE MASK, but let me know what you think
> 
> Also im so sorry for taking forever i have been having some of the worst months of my life. writing has been something i havent had time or motivation for, buut recently it has been distracting me and helping me. let me know what you think :)

Mina stood in the doorway, her mouth open, heart racing. She really wasn’t ready to have this conversation with Chaeyoung. Yeojin needed her full attention. 

“Chaeyoung ssi?” Yeojin said, wiping the tears from her eyes furiously, trying not to let her see she was crying.

“Mina, is everything all right? Why is Yeojin crying? What’s going on?”

Yeojin hid behind Mina, nervous to show Chaeyoung her face covered in tears.

“I’m sorry Chaeyoung, now really isn’t a good time, can you come back some other time?”

“No! It hasn’t been a good time for weeks! You’ve been avoiding me. Please, I need to talk to you.” Chaeyoung raised her voice, making Mina flinch. She backed up, putting her hand in front of Yeojin. As much as she wanted to speak up, she found herself unable to. Mina felt defenseless from Chaeyoung’s gaze. 

“Mina, just…” she paused, running a hand through her hair, “what is going on?” 

Jihyo suddenly stepped in between Mina and Chaeyoung, a stern look on her face. 

“Chaeyoung, there’s no need to shout. Now is really not a good time to be having this conversation, we need to take care of Yeojin. Maybe we will see you later.” Jihyo left no room for argument, grabbing Mina and Yeojin’s hands and guiding them away.

Mina allowed Jihyo to pull her to the elevator, but briefly looked back to see Chaeyoung staring at them. She looked upset, to say the least. 

Mina quickly looked forward. She didn’t like seeing Chaeyoung upset, especially when it was all her own fault. The pink haired girl quickly looked away and turned to head back to her apartment. Mina could see the defeat in her shoulders.

They arrived at the elevator and Jihyo dropped Yeojin’s hand to push the button, while keeping her grip on Mina. Mina looked at the slightly older girl with uncertainty. Jihyo’s face was surprisingly blank, leaving Mina unable to pick up what she was thinking. Mina glanced back down numbly. The elevator dinged and they piled in, completely silent between the three of them. 

Jihyo pressed the button before wordlessly pulling Mina into a hug. Yeojin joined the hug as well.

Mina felt ashamed, unable to even look at her daughter. Yeojin just had a terrible day, being bullied and hurt and Mina was the one getting the hugs. The only thing she could think of to describe herself was a failure.

“Mom, why was Chaeyoung mad?” Yeojin asked, cutting the silence.

Mina didn’t even know where to begin in explaining the situation to the five year old. One thing Mina remembered hating as a kid was adults leaving her in the dark, not telling her what was going on, and she wanted to be better than the adults from her childhood. 

But the words just wouldn’t form.

Jihyo was the one who spoke up. 

“Yeojin, through all relationships, whether it’s a friendship, or a romantic one, you are gonna have bumps. Your mom and Chaeyoung just need to work through this bump.”

“Does that mean me and Yoohyeon will have a bump?” Yeojin asked, eyes wide.

The elevator arrived on the bottom floor before Jihyo could answer. They walked out into the front entrance. Jihyo held the door for them, and they were out on the sidewalk, walking towards their favorite ice cream place.

“Some bumps can be very small Yeojin, they don’t always have to be big.” Jihyo said as they walked. 

“I think we might have had one already.” Yeojin said quietly, her voice quivering.

Seeing her daughter about to tear up again snapped Mina out of her daze.

“Yeojin? Did something else happen?”

“Well-um. Before she defended me, I think Yoo was mad at me. She didn’t sit next to me at lunch yesterday or played with me at recess yesterday or today.”

Mina frowned, unsure of what to say, though this behavior didn’t seem at all like Yoohyeon.

“How about we just get our ice cream and stop worrying about girls?” Mina suggested. Yeojin nodded sadly. 

They continued walking, the sun brightly shining. Mina closed her eyes briefly and let the sun hit her face. It’s warmth was comforting. Mina didn’t know what the right move was, couldn’t form the right words, couldn’t do anything. She felt like she was helping everything spiral into something worse and worse. Why was she the one standing in the gentle warmth of the sun with the support of her daughter and best friend when Chaeyoung was alone in her apartment. It didn’t feel fair. Chaeyoung didn’t do anything wrong. She had a reason to be upset. How could Mina excuse her own actions?

They arrived at the ice cream place, a homey establishment owned by a rather strange woman. The owner was a friend Mina made in college named Hyunjin, and any conversation you would have with her would be memorable, to say the least. However, her strangeness could be surprisingly charming, and Mina always enjoyed the woman’s presence, as well as her ice cream. One thing she loved about the shop was how cozy it was for an ice cream shop. They did have coffee and tea, but the ice cream was the best.

They entered, and Yeojin immediately ran to the orange tabby laying in the sun at the windowsill. Mina remembered Yeojin asking Hyunjin one day where she got her cat, Pan, and Hyunjin simply said it waltzed into the store and won’t leave.

A part of Mina believed it.

Hyunjin was behind the counter, crouched down, looking at something.

“Hi Hyunjin.” Jihyo said, approaching the counter. Hyunjin looked up and grinned at them, waving shyly. 

“Hi, great to see you all, it’s been many seconds since you were last here.”

Mina let out a laugh. Hyunjin really was strange. Or maybe Mina was the weird one.

“What can I get for you?” 

They ordered their ice cream and Hyunjin got to work scooping them into cones and serving them. Jihyo and Yeojin got theirs first and sat down at a table. When Hyunjin handed Mina her cone, she paused. 

“Is everything okay Mina? You don’t feel the same.”

“I don’t… feel the same?”

“Yeah, your presence feels… heavy.” Hyunjin said, scratching her head.

“Well, things are just complicated right now. It feels like nothing is just… simple.” Mina said, sighing.

Hyunjin looked thoughtful.

“Well, this may not sound helpful, but is there anything you can do to uncomplicate things? Maybe just slow down and think about what you can do, and if it’s out of your hands, then maybe just try your best to accept that.”

Mina took a thoughtful lick of her ice cream, pondering Hyunjin’s words. It definitely wasn’t out of her hands with Chaeyoung or Yeojin. She really needed to talk to Chaeyoung. Just sit down and talk.

“Okay Hyunjin, I will think about that, thank you.”

Hyunjin smiled at her.

“And this ice cream is so good.” Mina marveled, taking another lick.

“I would hope so.” Hyunjin said.

“Also, it’s really been a while, do you want to come over to make bread some time? I have some new recipes I’ve been dying to try out.”

Hyunjin nodded excitedly, “That would be fun. Text me when!”

“Okay, see you soon!” The trio waved as they walked out of the store, ice cream in hand.

Jihyo and Yeojin were talking animatedly about something, but Mina was tuning it out, thinking about what to do about Chaeyoung. She really wanted to make it up to her. Hyunjin’s words stuck with her. The easiest way to uncomplicate things would be to lay her feelings out and hope for the best, no misunderstandings, no confusion.

But that was scary.

Mina knew, however scary it might be, she had to do it.

They walked aimlessly for a while, just enjoying the weather and ice cream. 

“Mom, can we go to the park?” Yeojin asked, tugging on her hand.

Mina nodded, they were close to the one they usually passed in the morning on the way to the subway.

“Let’s go then!” Yeojin exclaimed happily.

The girl was definitely in a better mood, but Mina was still worried. She didn’t know if telling the school about Yeojin’s bully was the right move. In her experience as a kid, it didn’t do much. Another thing Mina debated in her head.

They walked to the park, and the whole way there, Mina could feel Jihyo’s burning stare on her. Mina just knew she had something to say.

When they got there, Mina and Jihyo found a bench while Yeojin ran to play.

Once Yeojin was away, Jihyo spoke up.

“Mina, I didn’t like the way Chaeyoung yelled at you. What’s going on?”

“Jihyo, I really messed up. I haven’t treated Chaeyoung fairly at all. I’m worried I can’t fix it.”

“Mina, clearly she cared, if she didn’t care she wouldn’t be trying to talk to you so bad.”

Mina paused, thinking of how to reply, or tell Jihyo she was wrong. As Mina opened her mouth Jihyo spoke.

“And don’t even think of asking why she would care. You’re more charming than you think. I don’t want to hear it.” Jihyo scolded.

Mina shut her mouth. Looking away. It really felt like Jihyo could read her mind sometimes.

“I will fix this.” Mina said. Jihyo just grinned and took hold of her hand in support.

-

They got back to Mina’s apartment later in the evening as the sun set.

Mina made sure Jihyo and Yeojin were settled, sitting on the couch watching a movie, before she left to head next door.

She was nervously practicing what she would say to the younger girl as she knocked, trying to calm her nerves. 

She heard Luna running around on the side, but no sign of her owner. Mina knocked again, and Luna was right on the other side of the door. There was no way Chaeyoung couldn’t hear her knocks with the way Luna was acting.

‘She must not be home.’ Mina thought as she headed back to her room, feeling defeated. She would try again later.

Mina got back into the apartment and Jihyo and Yeojin were watching her expectantly.

“She wasn’t home.” Was all she said while flopping down on the couch, yanking the blanket off Jihyo. Jihyo whined and tugged it back. They ended up sharing it after a mini tug of war.

They sat and watched cartoons for a while. Mina felt her phone in her pocket vibrate, and pulled it out to see a text from Hyunjin.

Catgirl:  
9:20 Hey, Hasuel is gonna be in the store tmrw so im free if u are  
9:20 For bread of course

Minaariiii:  
9:23 Hey its saturday tmrw so feel free to stop by any time :P

Catgirl:  
9:24 K see you soon Minaaaa

Mina got up and checked to make sure they had all the ingredients they would need, and luckily, she would not have to make a run to the store. Chaeyoung’s painting due tomorrow slipped her mind.

-

Chaeyoung really didn’t think this was the best way to get her mind off Mina at first. She called Tzuyu, because Chaeyoung always called the Taiwanese girl when she was upset. Momo somehow overheard Chaeyoung ranting on the phone and invited Chaeyoung clubbing. Chaeyoung would have much rather wallowed in her room on a Friday night, but Momo showed up, blowing up her phone to buzz her in, and that was that. 

The more she drank, the more she didn’t hate the idea of clubbing. The thumping of the bass called her to the dancefloor. Downing her last shot she ordered with Momo at the bar, she dragged the older girl to the dancefloor. Chaeyoung was never too confident in her dancing like Momo was, but she loved to just feel the music, and when she was drunk, confidence mattered little.

She danced with Momo, until the girl said she was heading back to the bar. Chaeyoung decided to stay, dancing with strangers, until she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see a gorgeous woman, slightly taller than her, smiling at her.

“Wanna dance?” The stranger asked. She had short, almost balck hair, with bangs reaching her eyebrows. 

Chaeyoung nodded, her brain firing all sorts of messages at her, getting fuzzy from the amount of alcohol she consumed in a short period of time. On the one hand, if an attractive woman asks you to dance, you take the opportunity. On the other hand, she wanted to reserve her heart for someone else. But when she thought about how Mina had been acting recently, her drunk mind convinced herself this was fine.

So Chaeyoung put her arms around the taller girl’s shoulders and they grinded on each other to the song playing. The dance floor was crowded and she bumped into people a few times, but Chaeyoung didn’t care.

The woman leaned and Chaeyoung started panicking, but she then turned her head to speak in her ear.

“I’m Sooyoung, but my friends call me Yves.” She said, her tone deep and husky.

Chaeyoung melted. 

“I-I’m Chaeyoung.” Chaeyoung said, turning into a blushing mess. Yves’ gently squeezed her hands on her waist. 

“Wanna get out of here?” She whispered.

Chaeyoung suddenly sobered up at the question. She backed up. Something wasn’t right. She needed to fix things with Mina. She needed to try.

“Sorry but, I shouldn’t.” Chaeyoung said, feeling bad for leading her on.

Yves’ lips curled into a small smile, and she nodded her head.

“I understand. I had fun dancing though.” Yves said. Chaeyoung nodded awkwardly, mumbling ‘bye’ to Yves, before heading back to the bar. Momo was still sitting there, talking to the bartender.

“I wanna go home.” She said, not caring about interrupting their conversation. Momo looked at her, raising an eyebrow. Chaeyoung just nodded towards the exit, and Momo nodded with a sigh. Chaeyoung’s head was pounding and all she could think about was how she cheated on Mina.

They weren’t even dating. When had her head started to pound like that?

“Bye Heechul, see you soon.” Momo said, before getting up. The two girls walked to the exit. Chaeyoung just felt bad. She enjoyed herself at the club for a while, but she felt gross. Mina deserved better. 

They walked to Momo’s car, Chaeyoung piling into the passenger seat, ready to sleep away her worries. 

“Momooooo,” Chaeyoung whined to the Japanese girl. “I-I think I just cheated on Minaaa.”

Momo suddenly turned her head. “Wait… did you say Mina? As in Myoui Mina?”  
“Yes, the greatest Mina in the world, and I cheated on her.” Chaeyoung said, tears forming in her eyes. Suddenly, the pink-haired girl passed out in her passenger seat. 

Momo stared at the younger girl in confusion. Chaeyoung was dating Mina? This was certainly news. She didn’t even know that they knew each other. Momo grunted as she buckled the younger girl in, before driving off. She would have to talk to Chaeyoung about it when she was sober... and conscious. 

-

Chaeyoung woke up to Momo shaking her shoulder awake, the car parked in front of her apartment.

“Want me to walk you up?” Momo asked as Chaeyoung stirred. 

Chaeyoung thought for a moment, as much as she didn’t want to be alone, she didn’t want to waste anymore of Momo’s time. She had already cut their night short.

“That’s okay.” Chaeyoung said, stretching in her seat before opening the door and climbing out. She bent down and gave Momo a somber smile. “Thanks for taking me out tonight.”  
Momo, just waved the girl off. “You looked like you needed it. Have a good night Chae.” There was a strange look on Momo’s face which Chaeyoung decided she was too tired to worry about at the moment. 

“You too.” She replied, shutting the door and walking around the car to the front apartment. She struggled trying to pull out her keys to get into the entrance. She still felt tipsy, digging through her purse, it was dark and she tried to feel them, but her brain wasn’t processing what her hand was feeling. Chaeyoung let out a struggled sigh, pulling out random objects, hoping it was her keys.

After a few more moments, she got her keys, and swiped the fob to open the front entrance. She stumbled to the elevator, starting to feel lightheaded. Maybe she should have let Momo walk her to the entrance. She could tell the Japanese girl was debating whether to protest when Chaeyoung said no, but all she wanted was to give Chaeyoung space. 

She stood in the elevator, waiting to arrive at her floor. Chaeyoung didn’t keep track of how much she drank, but she knew it was a lot. All her emotions were coming at her. 

Chaeyoung wanted to cry and scream and sleep all at the same time. Mina was driving her crazy. She walked to her apartment, stopping briefly in front of Mina’s familiar door. She didn’t know what time it was, but knew it was past midnight. She didn’t want to bother Mina. When she had stopped by earlier, it looked like Mina had a rough day, and Chaeyoung didn’t make anything easier for the mother. When Mina opened the door, she really looked distressed, and Chaeyoung yelled at her. 

The pink haired girl cringed at the thought, she was disappointed in herself for raising her voice, she was just so frustrated, and staring at her half finished painting didn’t help things. Chaeyoung continued to her apartment and squinted trying to find the right key. She got her door open and entered her dark apartment. Luna was asleep in front of the door a few steps.

Chaeyoung smiled, the poor girl fell asleep waiting for her owner to return. Chaeyoung dropped her purse on the table, and headed to the bathroom, wiping off her makeup but she felt unbothered to do much else as she flopped on her bed, shutting her eyes and falling asleep almost immediately. 

-

Mina woke up to some clattering noises and quiet whispers coming from outside her bedroom. She got up slowly, stretching with a yawn, and quietly headed to the kitchen. 

She found Jihyo and Yeojin in the kitchen cooking… something. Mina couldn’t quite figure out what it was, but it smelled good. 

“Morning momma!” Yeojin exclaimed, jumping off the chair she was perched on to run and give her a hug.

“Morning, what smells so good?” Mina asked, walking with Yeojin into the kitchen.  
“Me and auntie Jihyo are making french toast!”

“Well, anything I can do to help?”

“No! You sit and wait mom.” Yeojin blocked her from entering the kitchen. Mina surrendered and sat at the table. After a few more minutes of Jihyo fussing around the kitchen and Yeojin making more a mess than helping, the food was done and they ate together. 

“So, I need to go after we are done, me and Daniel have some plans for the day. What are you gonna do today.” Jihyo asked between bites. 

“Hyunjin wanted to come over, it’s been a while since we have seen each other, and we will probably make bread. You know how she is.” 

Jihyo chuckled, “Oh, I definitely know,” Jihyo looked up from her food, “but don’t you think today isn’t the best day for that?” 

Mina looked down, she knew what Jihyo was getting at. “Look, I tried last night. I don’t think we are going to make up and finish a painting in a day. I’ll try again after Hyunjin.”

Jihyo had a skeptical look on her face.

“Trust me, I feel awful for failing Chaeyoung on something so important, but it was hard enough the first time she painted me. I don’t want the time me and Chae spend together to be me…” Mina paused, realizing Yeojin was in the room. When the five year old chose to be quiet, Mina almost forgot she was there.

Mina collected her breath, “Look, I’ll handle it, okay?”

“Sure Mina, you know I just care about you, that’s why I pressure you sometimes.”

“I know.”

The conversation was interrupted by Mina’s phone chiming. She glanced to see a notification from Hyunjin, asking if it would be okay to come over in an hour.

Mina quickly replied a ‘yes,’ before opening her conversation with Chaeyoung. She was going to solve this. She quickly asked if Chaeyoung was free at all today, and set her phone down. Maybe texting in advance would help.

-

Hyunjin ended up texting her a few minutes later asking if she could bring two other people along with her.

Mina said yes, mainly because she trusted Hyunjin, and was looking for a distraction from ache in her heart.

So, Mina was finishing up cleaning Yeojin’s mess she made in the kitchen when Hyunjin texted her to buzz them in. She quickly did, yelling for Yeojin to come out of her room for their guests. There was a soft knock at the door, which Yeojin skipped over to answer.

Mina heard Yeojin squeal as the door opened, and the sound of her running. Hyunjin ran in after her, keeping a playful chase.

“Mom! She’s gonna hug meeeeee.” Yeojin yelled as she ran behind her mother. 

Hyunjin ran up to them.

“Come on JinJin, is it so bad to give me a hug?” Hyunjin complained. Mina noticed two other people awkwardly file in the open door. 

“Oh, Mina, this is Heejin,” Hyunjin pointed to a girl about Mina’s height, with long dark brown hair, cute wire frame glasses, and a loud Naruto shirt. (Which Mina recognized from being forced to watch it with Sana and Yeojin) 

“Hi, nice to meet you.” The girl waved with a large grin. 

Mina waved back with a small smile.

“And this is Yves.” Hyunjin gestured to the other girl. The girl was beautiful, with dark cropped hair and piercing eyes. She had on loose jeans and a red crop top. Mina thought she looked almost like a dancer, the way she was built. Yves smiled at her, and Mina smiled back.

“Guys, this is my good friend Mina, and her daughter Yeojin.” Yeojin came out from her mother's back, eyeing Hyunjin suspiciously, before grinning and greeting the two strangers.

“Hi, I’m Yeojin, I’m five.” She grinned at them. “Do you want to see my legos?” Heejin gasped in excitement. “I love legos, would you show me?” Yeojin nodded. 

“Come with me.” Yeojin ran to her room, with Heejin following. 

“So that’s your mysterious girlfriend, Hyunjin.” Mina teased. Hyunjin blushed and nodded. “I’m happy for you Hyun, looks like I won’t have to worry about you as much anymore.” 

“You might have too, those two together can be quite a handful.” Yves said with a smirk.

“Why don’t we sit for a little bit, do you guys want anything to drink?” Mina asked, opening the fridge. 

“Just water for me.” Yves said, rubbing her head.

“Water for me too.” Hyunjin said.

Mina grabbed the waters and guided the three of them to the couch.

Yeojin could be heard laughing with Heejin, which made Mina smile.

“So are you a student Yves?” Mina asked. Recently Nayeon had been encouraging Mina to be more open to conversation and they had been practicing at work. Mina could only hope she didn’t come off as awkward. 

“Oh yeah, I’m studying dance and performance.” Yves said. Mina grinned. Yves was a dancer after all. 

“Oh, I used to study dance as well, that’s awesome.”

“Mina is one of the best.” Hyunjin said, elbowing the Japanese girl lightly. 

“That’s really awesome. Where did you study?” Yves asked.

“I studied at Seoul University, but I unfortunately couldn’t finish my studies.” Mina said, eyes drifting down to her lap.

Mina heard Yves hum in understanding, but the girl didn’t ask anything else, instead changing the subject, which Mina appreciated.

After a few minutes of mindless chatter, Heejin and Yeojin emerged from her bedroom.

“Mom, Heejin watches anime like me and aunt Sana! I told you it’s not a kid thing.” Yeojin seemed to have made friends with Heejin quickly, seeing how she was dragging the poor girl around.

She really could make fast friends.

“So, since it’s still early in the afternoon, what do you want to do?”

“Well, Hyunjin dragged us both out of bed claiming you made the best bread, which says a lot from a bread connoisseur like her. Are we making bread or what?” Yves said with a grin.

So they all piled into the kitchen, Mina pulling out ingredients while Yeojin grabbed the others aprons.

As Mina instructed the girls what to do, her phone chimed again. It was from Chaeyoung. Saying she was free right now. Mina panicked.

Chae:  
1:42 I’m free rn Mina

Mina:  
1:42 I have some ppl over rn so we couldnt talk necessarily but u are free to come over  
1:43 Yeojin would love to see you

Chae:  
1:43 I would rather not impose

Mina:  
1:44 You wouldnt be imposing at all, we are making bread rn actually  
1:44 But if you would rather wait i can tell u when they leave

A few minutes passed, a world bubble popping up then disappearing occasionally. Mina thought she messed up.

Chae:  
1:50 okay i will be over

Mina smiled. She just hoped things wouldn’t be awkward. They still had a lot to talk through. She just hoped inviting her wasn’t a mistake.

“Hey everyone, my neighbor is gonna come over in a few minutes, hopefully that’s alright.”

“Yes! Chaeyoung is coming over! Heejin-ah, Chaeyoung watches anime too, you are gonna love her!”

After a few minutes, the doorbell rang, and Mina went to grab it. 

Chaeyoung was standing there, fiddling restlessly with her hands. She had loose torn jeans on, with a large blue sweatshirt on. She looked adorable.

“Hi Chaeyoung,” Mina said softly, making room for her to enter. “Everyone is in the kitchen.” Chaeyoung nodded quietly, the pink haired girl uncharacteristically mellow. 

“Everyone,” Mina said as they entered the kitchen. “This is Chaeyoung, my neighbor. Chaeyoung, this is Hyunjin, Heejin, and Yves.” 

Suddenly Yves let out a gasp, “Chaeyoung?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol i know i said this was gonna be 6 chapters but i added another one :/ and ended it on a cliffhanger. i really dont know why i do thissssssss. seriously though, tell me what you guys think of the recent comebacks! also mamamoo is coming soon and they already released dingga which is a bop as well. god what a month for girl groups
> 
> also i want to thank A17O for commenting and inspiring me to finish this
> 
> have a good day everyone


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, i did it! My scatterbrained ass actually delivered a final chapter! I’m not sure how i feel about, but i hope its a satisfying ending to all the angst :)
> 
> Also, because I’ve been listening to a lot of music recently, I figured I’d make some recommendations! Recently i stumbled upon an artist named Bibi, I listened to her song I’m Good at Goodbyes and I’ve been kinda obsessed with her since, like wow. Also, um, I feel the need to mention Gfriends comeback??????? LIKE HELLO YUJU WAS SO DISRESPECTFUL IN MAGO MY GAY HEART Anyway i feel like gfriend has evolved like fine wine. Like wow. The album repackage exceeded my expectations really, although lots of the songs were previous comebacks, I think Better Me and Night Drive stood out to me the most. And mamamoo?? Being a girl group stan is such a blessing holy moly. I have Diamond on repeat on my head. I think i gotta write some mamamoo bc they have been stuck in my head wow. I’ve been going on some long drives recently, and another soloist I’ve been listening to is Rothy, i think her music is great for drives. I would check out BEE, Cloud, and Beautiful Days maybe. Lol i was gonna put more recommendations but this has probably gone long enough, anyway let me know if you check any of the music out, and tell me what you think. I might put some non kpop stuff at the end notes if I remember  
> Anyway enjoy❤️

“Wait, no way! You know each other?” Hyunjin asked, genuinely confused.

“Actually, we met yesterday. How crazy is that?” Yves said, a slight smirk on her lips.

Chaeyoung creased her brow, staring at Yves. 

“I’m sorry, where did we meet again? You said yesterday? Because if we met at Eden last night I don’t really remember much.”

Yves laughed and grinned at her. “We met at that club, Eden, and we danced for a little bit. You did seem pretty drunk though, so I’m not too surprised you can’t remember.” 

“Well this is awkward, I kinda remember your face, but not a lot.” Chaeyoung said sheepishly, a light blush dusting her cheeks.

‘So that’s where she was last night.’ Mina thought. She had heard of the nightclub Eden before, but has never even had time to entertain the thought of going out to the club. 

There was no denying Yves was gorgeous, but she didn’t know what to make of them dancing together. Mina tried to ignore it, but she wanted to cower at the thought of Chaeyoung dancing with someone else, especially at a notorious gay club. She thought of the many pep talks Jihyo has given her. She couldn’t give up now. 

No matter how much the growing jealousy prodded at her resolve, her determination was stronger. She tried to tell herself that it didn’t matter if Chaeyoung didn’t feel the same, because she was doing this for herself. 

However, a part of her wasn’t convinced. 

Maybe Mina had messed up any chance she may have had with Chaeyoung. She couldn’t blame her neighbor, Mina had been sending mixed signals and practically ghosted her the past week. It made sense for her to want to move on. 

Mina looked at her neighbor again, and noticed Chaeyoung looked exhausted. Her shoulders were slumped, and her normally bright eyes looked heavy. 

“Chae?” Mina asked softly, as everyone went back to kneading their dough. Chaeyoung looked over to her. Mina felt awful. She wanted nothing more to be there for her, no matter what was causing her stress. 

Mina walked up to her neighbor, who stood awkwardly outside the kitchen.

“Chae, later, I really want to talk to you. I have a lot of things I have been meaning to say recently. It’s really important.” 

Chaeyoung nodded her head, her eyes drifting elsewhere. The younger girl nervously bit her lip before looking back at Mina.

“Listen Mina… about Yves-I”

“Chae, later. And you don’t have to explain yourself. Let’s just enjoy watching them try to cook, it’s probably gonna be a catastrophe.”

Chaeyoung nodded, her frown turning into a smile. A small smile, but a smile no less. Mina didn’t know where her confidence came from, but she was happy to see Chaeyoung smile.

“Okay, Yeojin what can I do to help?” Chaeyoung asked, walking into the kitchen. 

“Chaeyoung-ssi!” Yeojin grinned excitedly. “Heejin-ssi, this is Chaeyoung, she likes Dragonball and Naruto too!” 

Watching the three of them dive into a conversation about anime filled Mina’s heart with content. 

They would be okay. Maybe it wasn’t possible to have a romantic relationship, but they could still be friends. It would be okay.

Mina joined Hyunjin and Yves, and continued giving them instructions.

While they waited for their dough to rise, they all went to the living room and talked. Mina still felt like something was off about Chaeyoung. Thinking back to when she introduced Chaeyoung to Dahyun and Sana, she was much more open and talkative. Something was different.

Maybe it was something to do with Yves, Mina didn’t know, but the pink haired girl was much more subdued than usual. Yeojin brought out her lego sets and Heejin and Chaeyoung ended up playing with them. 

As much as Mina was initially enjoying having Hyunjin over, she felt like it was a mistake to invite Chaeyoung while they were all here. The conversation around them was slowly fading into the background, as Mina tried to figure out how to approach her neighbor, sitting just across from her. Mina put them all in an awkward situation, to say the least. It might have been better to just wait, but a part of her was eager to see the artist again. Just to see if she was okay.

The defeat Mina saw in her expression yesterday was worrying. 

Maybe she was just overthinking things. Again. Or maybe Mina just cared too much about the little things. From what she had gathered, Chaeyoung went out and had fun.

This was exhausting.

“Moooooom!” Yeojin whined, “we need you to come play a bad guy because there are two good guys and Heejin-ssi is the only bad guy.”

Mina chuckled and nodded, getting up from her seat on the couch to sit on the floor.

“Here, you can pick between this evil Sith Lord or the deadly witch I made.” Mina looked at the characters Yeojin shoved in her face, chuckling at the sight of the pieces mix and matched from other characters to create some strange abominations of lego people. 

Mina chuckled, plucking the ‘witch’ out of Yeojin’s hand. So they played, Heejin as an evil pirate cyborg hybrid, Mina as an evil witch. She noticed that again, Chaeyoung wouldn’t even meet her gaze.

Mina sucked it up, deciding to play even though the younger girl couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge her. They played for a while and Mina checked her phone, realizing they could probably bake the bread dough now.

“Alright everyone, I think we can put the dough in the oven to bake, so come on if you want to see.” 

Hyunjin stood up excitedly, with Heejin and Yeojin following shortly after. 

“Yeojin, will you grab the parchment paper?” Mina grabbed some pans and cut the parchment into them, setting the dough in them and putting them in the pre-heated oven. Hyunjin did another pan, as well as Heejin.

“These look so good. Oh I’m so excited!” Hyunjin grinned widely.

“They don’t look as good as you.” Heejin said, wiggling her eyebrows. Mina had to hold back from gagging as Hyunjin blushed. 

“No, I think the bread looks better.” Yeojin said, crossing her arms at Heejin in challenge, a teasing smile on her face. Heejin gasped as if she had actually been offended. Heejin chased Yeojin and they ran around playing.

“I hope they turn out good.” Mina said to Hyunjin, who was watching Heejin Naruto run after Yeojin with a dopey grin on her face.

“You really like her don’t you, I’ve never seen you this…” Mina paused trying to think of the word, “smiley before, you must be whipped Hyun.” 

Hyunjin looked at her, “Yeah, Heekkie is different, I’ve never met anyone like her. I want her to be in my life forever. I’m just nervous because I have never met someone I feel so strongly for, it’s scary.” Hyunjin said, fiddling with the bracelet on her wrist.

“Yeah, I understand that.” Mina said, her eyes wandering to Chaeyoung in the living room, her and Yves talking. They looked far less awkward now. Mina didn’t want to make assumptions. Making assumptions got her nowhere in the past, but it was hard. Hard when Hyunjin put into words exactly what she was feeling. 

“You like her, don’t you.” Hyunjin said quietly, picking up on Mina’s change in mood.

“Yes, it’s like you said, I feel so strongly for her I’m scared.” Mina said, turning back to Hyunjin.

“Look at us, a bunch of cowards.” 

“Aren’t you and Heejin dating though?” Mina asked, confused as to what the younger girl meant.

“Well she asked me out, I never would have been able to. And also last week…” Hyunjin trailed off. Mina saw how she was getting nervous. 

“It’s okay if you don’t want to mention it to me Hyun, I understand.”

“No, it’s just, she told me she loves me. She was half asleep and slightly tipsy but still, she said she loves me with all her heart and I couldn’t say it back. I know I love her, but it’s just so hard to say back. I’m afraid to take the step. Everyone loves her, she’s just naturally popular, I feel like I might hold her back.” 

Mina nodded her head, listening. “How could you possibly hold her back? I can tell you guys are great for each other.”

“Mina, I know what people say about me, so few people are nice and understanding like you.” Hyunjin looked down. “I’m worried they will say the same stuff about her, I don’t want that. She shouldn’t have to go through that, she doesn’t deserve it.” 

“Hyunjin, you don’t deserve to be treated like that either, no one does.” Mina said, pulling her into a comforting embrace. “I tell you what. If you talk to Heejin about your feelings, I will talk to Chaeyoung about mine. We are in this together.” Hyunjin pulled back back from the hug and nodded her head.

A shriek from Yeojin interrupted them from the moment. Mina peeked her head into the living room to see Yeojin being tickled by Heejin, the older girl giggling as well. 

“I mean, she is good with kids too.” Mina joked. Hyunjin rolled her eyes, punching Mina lightly in the shoulder. 

“No kids for me, only cats.” Hyunjin muttered, causing Mina to bark out a laugh.

-

“Bye everyone, it was so nice to meet you all.” Mina said, handing Hyunjin the container of sliced bread as they put on their shoes.

“You got this Hyun.” Mina muttered, giving her a final hug. 

“Heejin, Yves, it was so nice to meet you both. Yeojin, what do you say.”

“Bye, you guys will come back right?” The girl asked, pulling at Heejin’s hand. “Of course we will.” Heejin replied.

“Bye everyone.” Chaeyoung said, not meeting their eyes. 

With that, the trio was out of the door. Mina sighed, shutting the door and locking it.

“Yeojin, will you clean up your legos and put them in your room?” MIna asked. 

“Yeah,” she agreed, picking the scattered legos up and heading to her room.

Mina looked back at Chaeyoung who was bouncing on her feet nervously, her hair covering her eyes. Mina stepped towards her, stroking the hair behind her ear.

“Hey.” Mina said, stepping closer. Chaeyoung still wouldn’t meet her eyes. Mina doesn’t know where her courage came from, but she cupped CHaeyoung’s cheeks with both hands to make her look up. Maybe it was her talk with Hyunjin. Seeing how happy she and Heejin was inspired her. She wanted that. 

“Chaeyoung, I want to apologize. I haven’t treated you fairly at all. It’s all my fault, and I know you probably don’t feel the same, but I have to get this off my chest. I need you to know how much you mean to me. I know recently I haven’t acted like it, but you really are important to me I-”

“Mina…” Chaeyoung interrupted, her voice cracking. 

“Wait, please let me finish. I need to say this.” Mina said caressing her cheeks with her thumbs.

“I know you must be upset with me, but I want you to know I will do whatever I can to make it up to you. I tried my hardest to stop myself from falling for you, but I did anyway. At first, I told myself I was doing it for Yeojin. I want the best for my daughter, and I convinced myself I wouldn’t have time for my daughter and a relationship. I was really just protecting myself from being hurt again. I convinced myself I was unworthy of love, and for a while Yeojin was a reminder to me of all the people that have left my life. I want to work on that part of myself, I want to love and be loved. You entering into my life is such a blessing, I want to do everything to keep you here. I’m still scared, and I don’t know what happens next, but the one thing I do know is I have completely fallen for you, Son Chaeyoung. I know I haven’t been fair to you, I respect you and if you want to go for Yves I understand that completely. I just can’t keep acting like I don’t have feelings for you because I do. I really do.”

The pink-haired girl looked at her with wide eyes. “You-you fell for me?” 

“Yes, I want to be more than your friend. I want more than anything to take you out. But like I said, I understand if you don’t reciprocate. I’m not exactly the most clear on my feelings or emotionally available. But I want to be better. You make me want to be better.”

Chaeyoung opened her mouth to say something, but closed it, a look of complete shock on her face. Seconds passed and Mina felt regret pooling at the bottom of her stomach as more time passed.

“Chae?” The girl stood still in Mina’s arms.

“Mina are you asking me out?” 

“Well, yes, I guess I am.” Mina suddenly got nervous again. Whatever courage that had possessed her earlier was gone, replaced with fear. She lowered her hands from Chaeyoung’s face, and took a small step back, giving the girl a little space.

Suddenly, Chaeyoung started laughing. Mina looked at her shocked, unsure of what she was laughing at.

“Are you laughing at me?” Mina said, anger growing. “I just-I just confessed some of my biggest insecurities and you're laughing?” Anger washed over.

“Wait Mina, no, it’s not like that.” Chaeyoung said, her laughter abruptly stopping. “I was laughing at myself and how stupid I am. I thought I royally screwed up any chance I had to be with you. I thought this conversation would be going very differently after I yelled at you.” Her eyes widened. “Oh my god I never apologized did I? Mina I am so sorry, I never should have done that. I swear it will never happen again. I never should have raised my voice.” Chaeyoung said, covering her face with her hands. Mina grinned at Chaeyoung, pulling her hands from covering her face. 

“Chae, I think we both have stuff to be sorry for. How about we forget about this mess.”

“Mina.” Chaeyoung saighed, a light blush dusting her cheeks as she stepped forward, grabbing Mina’s hands to hold. “Let me make it up to you. May I take you out on a date?” 

It was Mina’s turn to be at a loss for words. Not trusting herself to speak coherently, she just nodded her head, not able to stop the wide grin forming on her face if she tried. 

“Wait so, you don’t like Yves?”

Chaeyoung blushed, turning away. “Well, to be honest… I think drunk me was just frustrated. She is really nice and we danced, but that was it. I honestly didn’t think I was ever gonna see her again. Trust me, she is nothing more than a friend, if I could even call her that.” Mina paused, absorbing what the younger girl said.

“Mina, can I kiss you?” Chaeyoung asked, talking another step closer. Still not trusting her voice, she instead put her arms around Chaeyoung’s shoulders, pulling the younger girl flush against her front, and slowly both of them leaned in. When their lips connected, Mina felt herself melt, her eyes shutting, just allowing herself to feel the kiss. Just feel. 

She could feel Chaeyoung’s hands snake around her waist, and Mina deepened the kiss. Never has she felt a kiss like this, it wasn’t something Mina could imagine, it almost didn’t feel real. 

Suddenly, a yelp interrupted them, and both girls separated and turned to the hallway to see Yeojin covering her eyes, and turning around. “Eww gross gross gross! Moooom I can’t believe you!” The girl shouted.

Chaeyoung turned back to face Mina, a big dopey grin on her face. “I guess we might have to get used to that.” Chaeyoung said, gesturing to the fuss Yeojin was making.

“I guess so.” Mina said, chuckling. “But, we have to promise from now on to actually communicate our feelings, instead of whatever we did these past few weeks. I have a feeling this all could have been avoided.” Chaeyoung threw her head back in laughter. Suddenly Mina remembered something. 

“Oh my god, Chae, it’s Saturday! Your painting!” Mina said in a panic, untangling herself from the girl’s arms. She rushed around trying to tug on her shoes.

“Wait Mina, don’t worry, I finished it already.” 

Mina stopped looking for her jacket to stare at Chaeyoung, “You-you finished it? But how? I thought you needed me to model for it.”

A blush spread across her cheeks as she ran a hand through her pink locks nervously. 

“Well… remember that photo I took of you? I just used that as a reference to finish it. The only reason I wanted you to model in person was to-uh spend more time with you… I was planning on making a move that first day but I got too nervous so I didn’t and I-” Mina off Chaeyoung’s nervous rambling with a peck on the corner of her mouth.

“That is the cutest thing I have ever heard. I seriously thought I ruined your project.”

Chaeyoung smiled, “No, you didn’t. But I’m pretty happy to see that you are willing to go, wherever you planned on going after realizing you forgot.” She gestured to the single shoe on her left foot.

“Mom, that's nasty, I don’t wanna see you kiss. Are you and Chaeyoung-ssi dating?” 

“What do you mean my kisses are gross?” she ran over and scooped Yeojin up, pecking kisses all over the girls face.

“Mom stop!” The little girl squealed, trying to escape her mother's grip.

Eventually she relented, putting Yeojin down. 

“Yeojinnie, things might be a little different between me and Chaeyoung now, but we will have just as much fun as we have before. I don’t want you to worry.”

“Yeah, and if anything, me and Luna will be over more often than we already are.” Chaeyoung said, putting a smile on Yeojins face.

-

“Mina, it’s gonna be fine. We are in this together now. I will do whatever I can to help.” 

Mina looked at the front doors with dread. It was impossible to know if she was making the right decision.

“What if this only makes things worse?” Mina asked, unsure of herself.

“Mina, everything you do is with your daughter in mind. Leaving it alone definitely won’t change things, so why not give this a shot?” 

“Okay.” Mina still hesitated to enter the establishment.

Chaeyoung grabbed her hand and interlaced their fingers. 

“Thank you for coming with me. This would be so hard alone.” Chaeyoung just grinned at her. Together, they walked into Yeojin’s school. It was still early to pick her up, but Mina wanted to meet with the principal before picking her up.

They walked up to the front desk, and the woman directed them to the principal’s office.

Chaeyoung entered the office first, holding open the door for Mina. A woman with long dark hair and wire frame glasses was seated at the other side, writing on some papers. She looked up from her work and gave them a warm smile.

“Hello, you must be Myoui Mina. I am Principal Bae, but you are free to call me Joohyun.” She got up and bowed, to which the other two bowed in return.

“Hello Joohyun, this is Chaeyoung by the way, thank you so much for meeting with me.” 

“Of course. It’s nice to meet you both. Please sit down and we can talk.” She gestured to the red upholstered chairs in front of her desk. Mina and Chaeyoung both took their seats. “Now, in your email you told me you had something about your daughter you wished to discuss?”

“Yes well…” Mina paused, trying to figure out how to put her thoughts into words. “A few days ago, she came home in tears, and there was a bruise on her stomach. Someone in her class is bullying her, not only verbally, but physically and I am very concerned about it.”

The principal furrowed her brow “I was not aware this was going on. We have a zero tolerance policy for bullying, and there are a few different ways we can approach this issue.” 

She scrunched her brow deeper. “Did she mention the name of the student who was bullying her?”

Mina shook her head. She felt Chaeyoung gently grab her hands, which Mina didn’t notice were shaking.

“The first thing I can do is notify her teacher and ensure she watches for this again and puts a stop to it. The second thing I could do is call Yeojin in to hear what she has to say about it, and if she will tell who is doing it. Do you know if any other student is involved, or just Yeojin and the bully?”

“Well, Yeojin mentioned her friend Yoohyeon defending her.”

“Hm, I suppose I could call in Yoohyeon as well.” Joohyun took off her glasses, rubbing her eyes. “Don’t worry Mina, I will make sure this gets taken care of decisively, I don’t like the idea of any of the students attending this school being bullied.”

Mina nodded, feeling slightly better. Joohyun had a welcoming presence about her that made her more at ease. 

“Thank you very much for meeting with us, again, it was nice to meet you.” Mina stood up, Chaeyoung standing as well. 

“It was my pleasure, thank you for bringing this to my attention, school should be a safe place for all students to learn. Have a great rest of your day.” 

With that, Mina felt more at ease with the whole situation. She still didn’t know one hundred percent if it would make a difference, but it was starting to feel like she made the right choice. 

“Feeling better?” Chaeyoung asked as they walked out back to the entrance, waiting for the bell to release the kids.

“Yeah, I think I am. I’ll probably never not be worried, but I think I feel more reassured now. Thanks again for coming.” 

“Of course I’d come.” 

Soon, the bell could be heard ringing, and students poured out of the doors, loading on buses or meeting their parents. Mina scanned for Yeojin, and eventually spotted her walking with Yoohyeon next to her. They were talking and smiling, and it made Mina’s heart soar to see their friendship return to normal.

Yeojin spotted them and skipped over to them, Yoohyeon not far behind.

“Hi Jinjin, how was school?” she said, wrapping her daughter in a hug.

“It was good.” Mina nodded and turned to her friend a few steps behind her.

“Hi Yoohyeon, how are you?” 

“I’m good,” the small girl replied. “Do you think me and Yeojin could have a playdate soon?”

“Of course, I’ll give your mom a call later.” 

“Okay, thank you. I have to go now, my mom’s probably waiting. Bye!” Yoohyeon said, waving energetically as she ran off.

“So, did you and Yooh get through your bump? It sure looks like you did.” Mina said, grabbing Yeojins backpack and walking to the car, holding her hand. Yeojin grabbed Chaeyoung’s hand and swung them wildly.

“Yeah, we did.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

They got into the car, and Mina felt content. Never has she just felt giddy with happiness like this. She felt like smiling for no reason, because she truly was happy.

Chaeyoung started the car and started driving back home.

“Mom, can we stop for ice cream? Please?” Yeojin asked as they passed Hyunjin’s shop at a red light.

“No sweetie. Maybe some other time.”

“Chaeyoung-ssi, please.” Mina was about to scold Yeojin for asking Chaeyoung when she had said no, but then Chaeyoung turned and gave her the puppy eyes. Mina felt her resolve falter, getting cute whines from not only her daughter as well as her girlfriend made it hard to say no.

They ended up pulling over to get ice cream, to no one’s surprise.

-

“So, how did your talk with Heejin go?” Mina asked, standing at the counter, while Chaeyoung and Yeojin tested how many coins they could stack on the sleeping cat Pan in the windowsill.

“It went pretty good. I was really nervous but Heejin was so understanding. She was embarrassed when she found out she told me she loves me, but I finally said it back. Honestly I think we are going stronger than ever.”

“That’s awesome Hyunjin! You deserve it.” 

“I’m guessing things went well for you as well.” Hyunjin said, giving her a knowing look.

Mina blushed, nodding. “Things went better than I could imagine.” Mina said wistfully, looking back to Chaeyoung and Yeojin, who had gotten an impressive stack of coins on Pan’s side.

“So how is it raising two children now?” Hyunjin teased, earning a punch from Mina.

-

“Wait a minute… Momo? How the heck do you know Chae?” Mina asked, getting tired of finding out she has another mutual friend with Chaeyoung. What a small world.

“Yeah, Momo was my roommate before I got kicked out.” 

Mina just shook her head. “You know what, I’m not even gonna worry about it, show us your part of the exhibit?”

Chaeyoung nodded, grabbing Mina’s hand and leading her, Momo and Jihyo to her paintings. Mina was excited, she had yet to see the portrait Chaeyoung did. 

They passed by art of all mediums, and Mina hoped they would be able to loop around and look at all the art, but right now Chaeyoung was what her attention was on.

They turned a corner, and there resting a wall was a painting undeniably of Mina. The colors and background were beautifully done, and Mina was in shock at the talent Chaeyoung possessed. There was a dripping effect on her skin that was breathtaking, Mina was in awe at the detail put into it.

“Oh Chae… it’s incredible.” Mina wrapped her in a hug. 

“Thanks Mina. That means so much to me.” 

They walked around the gallery, enjoying the other students' art. 

Watching Chaeyoung marvel about different techniques and details Mina herself could never point out made Mina’s heart soar. Chaeyoung was so passionate and she loved listening to her talk about things she cared about.

Listening Chaeyoung marvel about photograph composition was an experience to say the least.

-

Yeojin was laying on the couch, her aunt Jihyo who was supposed to be watching while her mom and Chaeyoung were out had passed out next to her during the movie they watched.

Luna layed down, the dog's head resting on her lap. Seeing her mom acting all lovey dovey was weird, but Yeojin was grateful. She liked seeing her mom happy.

“I’m so glad we met Chaeyoung-ssi and you Luna, I’d like to think we got them together.” Yeojin told the dog. Luna shifted her head up, as if understanding what Yeojin said, before laying back down, closing her eyes. With a smile, the girl fell asleep petting the dog, curled into her aunt’s side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, i hope i ended it well. Thank you all for sticking with me, all you comments and kudos mean a lot to me. i can't believe this has over 300 kudos. thank you all so much <3
> 
> I am kinda proud of myself for finishing, even though i told myself i would finish last week. well, at least it wasn't a few months. also sorry for errors i suck at editing

**Author's Note:**

> Hmu on twitter if u want or if you have suggestions @Licetree 
> 
> Have a lovely day everyone stay safe :)


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